18 suspects give themselves up after Xinjiang attack plea
Print Edition
EIGHTEEN people suspected of involvement in a terrorist attack in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region have surrendered to police.
They turned themselves in under intense pressure from the public after a police appeal following the attack in Shache County, the Xinjiang government said yesterday.
“In the past several days, I have been thinking about the innocent people who were injured and killed in the attack. Their children and parents must be in pain for their lifetime,” Yusup Eli, one of the suspects told police, Xinhua news agency reported.
In the early morning of July 28, he was attending Muslim worship when a group of people broke into the mosque and shouted about “holy war.” Without a second thought, he rushed home to pick up a hoe and joined the crowd as they attacked civilians and smashed vehicles, Xinhua said.
“I went home and kept thinking about the attacks. The death of those people and sadness their family members would be facing bothered me a lot,” he told police. “I felt worried as I know it was a mistake and I would be punished by law. That’s why I turned myself in.”
Osman Seyit, who said he was coerced with threats into joining the attack, said: “My mind went blank as I followed others to attack innocent people who had done nothing against me.”
He fled after the attack.
“I ran away into the desert and later hid in cornfields. I was so scared after seeing the police on the streets and then hearing the broadcast asking me to surrender,” he said. “My mother doesn’t know about my bad deeds yet. If she did, she would cry her heart out.”
After the incident, the Shache government appealed to the public to contact police with any information about the attackers and warned of legal consequences for anyone sheltering those involved.
Few of those who surrendered were diehard terrorists, and many of them were cheated or coerced into joining the attack, said Abdulkeyum Abdukhadir, a Shache public security bureau official.
He said those who turned themselves in would get lighter sentences if convicted.
The attack left 37 civilians dead and another 13 injured when a gang armed with knives and axes attacked a police station and government offices in Elixku Township before moving on to Huangdi Township, attacking civilians and smashing vehicles as they went.
Police shot dead 59 of the attackers and arrested 215 others, confiscating banners proclaiming “holy war.”
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