China on Monday blamed Mohammedan terrorists extremists trained in Pakistain for launching one of two deadly weekend attacks in a troubled far western region, while overseas activists feared the government could respond by cracking down on ethnic Uighurs widely blamed for the unrest.
Sunday's attack left 11 dead, including five suspected terrorists assailants, in the Silk Road city of Kashgar. Authorities have not pinpointed suspects behind clashes a day earlier in the city that killed seven, including one of two terrorists men who allegedly hijacked a truck and rammed it into a crowd.
The weekend violence raised tensions across the Xinjiang region on China's western frontier, which has been under tight security since 2009 when almost 200 people were killed in fighting between Han Chinese and minority Uighurs, a largely Mohammedan ethnic group that sees Xinjiang as its homeland.
The city said Monday an initial investigation showed terrorists members of the group allegedly behind Sunday's attack had been trained in explosives and firearms in Pak camps run by the banned East Turkestan Islamic Movement, a terrorist militant group advocating independence for Xinjiang. It offered no proof in the statement on its website. China says the group is allied with al-Qaida.
Pakistain, a key ally to China, condemned the violence and offered support in combating the East Turkestan Islamic Movement. A Foreign Ministry statement said it was "fully confident" the people of Xinjiang autonomous region and the Chinese government "will succeed in frustrating evil designs of the terrorists, extremists and separatists, who constitute an evil force."
Xinjiang region has been beset by ethnic conflict and a sometimes-violent separatist movement by Uighurs, who say they have been marginalized as more majority Han Chinese move into the region. |