Posted on 01/09/2007 8:57:23 AM PST by NormsRevenge
BEIJING - Police found links to international terrorist groups during a raid on an alleged terror camp in China's restive western Muslim region last week, the Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.
Police said they raided a training camp run by the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, or ETIM, in the mountainous Xinjiang region on Friday, killing 18 suspects and arresting 17 others.
"There is a large amount of evidence that shows, including evidence we got from this raid, that the ETIM is associated with international terrorist forces," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao.
He also said that the group "planned, organized and carried out a series of violent terrorist activities in China."
Liu gave no specific details about the alleged evidence or attacks and did not say which overseas terror groups those arrested were linked to. China has said before that ETIM has links to al-Qaida.
China labels ETIM as a terrorist organization, as does the United States.
Song Hongli, director of the general office of the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau, said Monday that one police officer was killed and another was wounded during the raid.
The official China News Service reported the raid occurred in Akto County — an area about 120 miles east of China's border with Kyrgyzstan.
Police seized 22 grenades, parts for 1,500 more grenades as well as guns and handmade explosives, the Xinhua News Agency said. The report cited Xinjiang police spokeswoman Ba Yan as saying that the suspects operated mines near the camp to raise funds, but did not specify what sort of mines.
Liu said the 17 arrested suspects would be handled according to the law, but didn't say where they were being held or what charges they faced.
China has long said that militants among the region's dominant ethnic Uighurs are leading a violent Islamic separatist movement in Xinjiang. The Uighurs are Turkic-speaking Muslims with a language and culture distinct from the majority of Chinese.
Critics accuse Beijing of using claims of terrorism as an excuse to crack down on peaceful pro-independence sentiment and expressions of Uighur identity.
About two dozen Uighurs were captured by U.S. forces in Afghanistan following the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
China has demanded their return, but the United States fears they might face persecution there. Five Uighurs were sent to Albania last year after no other country would accept them.
FYI. A rare report of Islamists in China...
Lucky for the Chinese that their hands aren't tied by the ACLU and a fifth-column domestic press. I imagine they'll make short work of their muzzie terrorists.
Very true. The problem the Chinese will run into is that they will realize the status quo will change. The harder they fight the muzzies the less likely they will be to gain access to natural resources.
And to top it off their idea of appeals means which ear do you want the bullet.
They'll make good organ donors.
No, we do not enjoy that the Chinese have Islamic troubles. We do enjoy and approve of the fast, practical way the Chinese take care of their Islamic troubles. We Americans regret that we are lumbered with organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union that make it difficult for us to take care of our Islamic troubles.
Do not misunderstand--I think that in this regard the Chinese and the Americans should stand as allies against these Islamic terrorists, defending civilization against barbarism.
When China invades Taiwan, these islamics will reclassified as freedom fighters.
The press is the propaganda arm of the American left and they have an agenda...see this:
What is it you're not sure about? I just told the Chinese guy that no, despite what he thinks we Americans aren't gloating because the Chinese have their own problems with Islamists. And I think we ought to work together. I'm very aware that the press is the fifth column in our battle against terrorism and they hate America at least as much as any communist does. It's the press and the American leftists working together that make it so hard for us to prosecute the war on terror. Horowitz is absolutely right. Where is it that you and I disagree?
The Leftists here and the Chinese are both of the Marxists viewpoint....was my point....not sure they would go against their comrades.
Sometimes "the enemy of my enemy is my friend." In other words, it's conceivable that we might all benefit from intelligence sharing on the topic of Islamo-nazis.
The Chinese are logical people, in any case. They might have a collective bug up their rectal apertures over Taiwan, but they don't want to forcibly convert us to their philosophy as the Islamicists do; they want us to continue buying their crap.
So true...all of my latest elctronics has a Made in China tag on it!
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