Posted on 01/08/2007 11:39:56 AM PST by NormsRevenge
BEIJING - Chinese police raided an alleged terrorist camp in a western mountain region near the border with Pakistan, killing 18 suspects and arresting 17, a police official said Monday.
Song Hongli, director of the general office of the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau, said the raid occurred Friday at a training camp run by the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, or ETIM.
One police officer was killed and another was injured in the shoot-out, Song said.
Police are searching for suspects who are believed to have escaped during the raid, Song said, but did not say how many.
Police found 22 grenades and material for 1,500 more, he said.
Song said the camp was located in the Pamir Plateau, a sprawling high-altitude section of China's Xinjiang Autonomous Region near the borders of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan.
Song did not give an exact location.
China has long claimed 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.
Chinese troops occupied Xinjiang at the end of the communist revolution in 1949, shipping in millions of Chinese migrants and interfering heavily in Uighur religious affairs.
Chinese authorities say ETIM is one of the region's most violent groups, labeling it a terrorist organization and alleging that it has links to al-Qaida.
The United States has also put ETIM on a terrorist list.
Two years ago, China claimed that Muslim separatist groups and individuals in western China had carried out 260 attacks since 1995, killing 160 people and injuring 440.
Diplomats and foreign experts, however, say that many of the bombings and other violence China has linked to the group actually stem from personal disputes.
About two dozen Uighurs were captured by U.S. forces in Afghanistan following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
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 countries would accept the men.
China often paints a contradictory picture of the security situation in Xinjiang.
Officials seem eager to show they are cracking down on what they consider to be anti-government activity, but they also sometimes deny terrorist activity in the region, apparently wanting to portray it as safe for development and international investment.
HEY Tiger hear of these guys
Chinese authorities say ETIM is one of the region's most violent groups, labeling it a terrorist organization and alleging that it has links to al-Qaida.
The United States has also put ETIM on a terrorist list.
Two years ago, China claimed that Muslim separatist groups and individuals in western China had carried out 260 attacks since 1995, killing 160 people and injuring 440.
Diplomats and foreign experts, however, say that many of the bombings and other violence China has linked to the group actually stem from personal disputes.
About two dozen Uighurs were captured by U.S. forces in Afghanistan following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
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 countries would accept the men.
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not very popular folks or friendly, that's for sure.
I think that the Chinese are willing to do what is necessary to prevent their country from being overrun and infested with the head-choppers and throat-slitters. I don't think that the USA is willing to do the same.
Damn that amazing can you imagine no country want you
So they bad news to Chinese like be like Al Quada to us Americans very bad news
Uighurs
http://www.transanatolie.com/english/Turkey/Turks/uighurs.htm
They have a long history.
rabble rousers from way back to the early middle ages, definitely not good neighbors
Much as I detest the Chinese Government, I hope they utterly annihilate the Islamists. (Which I am sure they will).
Hmmm, religion of peace, religion of peace, Ethiopia/Somalia, Lebanon/Israel, China, Phillipines, Thailand, Chechnya, USA, religion of peace, religion of peace, Kashmir, France, Denmark, Netherlands, religion of peace, religion of peace, you are getting sleeee-eepy,
There is no great love bond between them or not that I can see, more so a tolerance but only for the sake of doing business including military deals, the Chinese have to deal with Arab nations that are also Islamic/Muslim nations for the oil, they get screwed as much as anyone else on the global stage.
The last folks the Islamics want to get in a no holds barred fight with is China. 'til they get the message,, crunch crunch..
your eyelids are getting veh-reey heav-eee, Madrid, London, Bali, follow the magic omelet ...
You think when the Chi-Coms are done with this group they wouldn't mind going up to the Pakistan Afghan border and kill some more Islamo Fascists? If they don't want to then maybe we can send in the Ethiopians. Because the USA has lost its will to fight.
Gotta hand it to the Islamikazis... they really mean it when they say they want to become martyrs. Taking on the hyper-PC Western nations is like picking on schoolgirls... but smacking China's government in the face and saying that you want THEM to renounce power and turn their territory over to Islamic rule...then you're taking a stand!
http://www.answers.com/topic/turk
Turk (tûrk)
n.
A native or inhabitant of Turkey.
A member of the principal ethnic group of modern-day Turkey or, formerly, of the Ottoman Empire.
A member of any of the Turkic-speaking peoples.
Obsolete. A Muslim.
[Middle English, from Old French Turc, from Turkish Türk, from Old Turkic türk, strong.]
People from Iran too ROFL
well,you yankees seem to enjoy that Chinese get into Islamic troubles.........Just as many Chinese enjoy Yankees'Embarrassment in Iraq...
But I am afaid that one day those radical Islamic fundamentalists will bury both us!
Sino guy said in part, "well,you yankees seem to enjoy that Chinese get into Islamic troubles.."
I've never said that, nor indicated that sinoguy.
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