China: 'East Turkistan' terrorist ring smashed
Source: Xinhua |
June 25, 2010, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
China has broken up a terrorist ring headed by "East Turkistan" separatists, the Ministry of Public Security said yesterday.
The group was involved in a 2008 attack targeting border police in China's westernmost city of Kashgar in Xinjiang that killed 17 people and injured 15, ministry spokesman Wu Heping told a press conference in Beijing.
Also that year, the group detonated explosives in supermarkets, hotels and government buildings, killing two civilians and injuring two police officers in the region's Kuqa County.
"The break-up of the major terrorist ring proves, once again, terrorist groups including the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement remain the principal terrorist threat facing China at present and in the near future," Wu said.
He said the Chinese police had caught more than 10 members of the terrorist group, including two ringleaders, both natives of Xinjiang, identified as Abdurixit Ablet, 42, and Imin Semai'er, 33.
Police investigations showed Ablet was sent by separatists from abroad and Semai'er was a backbone member of the "East Turkistan" terrorist forces.
The two men and their aides confessed to police they had prepared knives, axes and self-made explosives, and planned to launch a series of terrorist attacks in Xinjiang's Kashgar, Hotan and Aksu from July to October 2009.
After police foiled their plans, they fled to China's southern provinces of Guangdong and Yunnan and contacted leaders of the Turkistan Islamic Movement by email, Wu said.
They asked for road maps as they attempted to cross the border, he said.
Overseas help
Police investigations indicated that overseas-based "East Turkistan" groups provided financial aid and sent people to help them flee.
Police revealed that investigations into an illegal cross border case last year had led them to three members of the terrorist group led by Ablet and Semai'er.
Last December 20, Chinese police received 20 Chinese people who were expelled from an unidentified neighboring country for illegal entry into that country. After investigations, the police found three of them were terrorist suspects at large.
The ministry's announcement came just a few days ahead of the one-year anniversary of the rioting on July 5 last year in Xinjiang's capital city Urumqi, which left 197 people dead and more than 1,700 injured.
As part of Xinjiang's drive to beef up security measures, the region recruited 5,000 police this year, a source with the public security department of Xinjiang said yesterday.
The policemen have been assigned the tasks of checking violent crimes, doing street patrols and dealing with emergencies, the source said, adding that stronger mobile police forces are now operating in Urumqi, Kashgar, Hotan and Aksu.
In Urumqi, police have started drills to deal with emergencies, initiated campaigns to confiscate guns and explosives and launched a harsh crackdown against violent crimes.
A total of 1,000 policemen have been temporarily sent to grassroots-level police stations in Urumqi to increase patrols and upgrade police capacity in dealing with emergencies, the city's police bureau chief Wang Mingshan said.
The group was involved in a 2008 attack targeting border police in China's westernmost city of Kashgar in Xinjiang that killed 17 people and injured 15, ministry spokesman Wu Heping told a press conference in Beijing.
Also that year, the group detonated explosives in supermarkets, hotels and government buildings, killing two civilians and injuring two police officers in the region's Kuqa County.
"The break-up of the major terrorist ring proves, once again, terrorist groups including the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement remain the principal terrorist threat facing China at present and in the near future," Wu said.
He said the Chinese police had caught more than 10 members of the terrorist group, including two ringleaders, both natives of Xinjiang, identified as Abdurixit Ablet, 42, and Imin Semai'er, 33.
Police investigations showed Ablet was sent by separatists from abroad and Semai'er was a backbone member of the "East Turkistan" terrorist forces.
The two men and their aides confessed to police they had prepared knives, axes and self-made explosives, and planned to launch a series of terrorist attacks in Xinjiang's Kashgar, Hotan and Aksu from July to October 2009.
After police foiled their plans, they fled to China's southern provinces of Guangdong and Yunnan and contacted leaders of the Turkistan Islamic Movement by email, Wu said.
They asked for road maps as they attempted to cross the border, he said.
Overseas help
Police investigations indicated that overseas-based "East Turkistan" groups provided financial aid and sent people to help them flee.
Police revealed that investigations into an illegal cross border case last year had led them to three members of the terrorist group led by Ablet and Semai'er.
Last December 20, Chinese police received 20 Chinese people who were expelled from an unidentified neighboring country for illegal entry into that country. After investigations, the police found three of them were terrorist suspects at large.
The ministry's announcement came just a few days ahead of the one-year anniversary of the rioting on July 5 last year in Xinjiang's capital city Urumqi, which left 197 people dead and more than 1,700 injured.
As part of Xinjiang's drive to beef up security measures, the region recruited 5,000 police this year, a source with the public security department of Xinjiang said yesterday.
The policemen have been assigned the tasks of checking violent crimes, doing street patrols and dealing with emergencies, the source said, adding that stronger mobile police forces are now operating in Urumqi, Kashgar, Hotan and Aksu.
In Urumqi, police have started drills to deal with emergencies, initiated campaigns to confiscate guns and explosives and launched a harsh crackdown against violent crimes.
A total of 1,000 policemen have been temporarily sent to grassroots-level police stations in Urumqi to increase patrols and upgrade police capacity in dealing with emergencies, the city's police bureau chief Wang Mingshan said.
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