Terrorist training camp destroyed in NW China's Xinjiang region

Ba Yan, spokeswoman of the Xinjiang Public Security Department, speaks at a press conference in Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Jan. 8, 2007.

Local police recently destroyed a terrorist training base in a mountain area of the Pamirs in the southern part of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, northwest China. The police shot 18 terrorists, captured another 17 and seized 22 hand-made antitank hand grenades and more than 1,500 half-finished ones.

During a search on Jan. 5, 2007, these terrorists put up a violent resistance, killing a policeman and wounding another, according to a police spokesman. Now the police are hunting the remaining few who have fled in panic.

Local police authority notes that the terrorists belong to the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM), which was on the terrorist organization list issued by the United Nations on Sept. 11, 2002. It had sent core members into China to gather a group of terrorists and sneak into Pamirs area to set up a training camp.

The spokeswoman said the camp was located on the Pamir Plateau, a sprawling high-altitude section of Xinjiang near the borders of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan. The exact location was not revealed.

She said local police were alerted when they noticed that ETIM had sent some key members to the region to set up a training camp and prepare for terrorist actions. Members were also found to be operating mines near the camp to raise funds.

Li Wei, a senior anti-terrorism researcher at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, said the country needs to reassess the strength of the terror group.

"It has received external training and financial assistance and it has munitions-smuggling channels," Li said.

The Islamic extremist group is pursuing an independent "Eastern Turkistan", an area that would include Turkey, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Xinjiang.

It is believed that more than 1,000 ETIM members have received training from al-Qaida, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

Netizens showed unanimous support for the government action. By late last night, almost all the 1,500 comments posted on Sina.com, China's biggest news portal, praised the police action.

Many paid their respects to the policeman who died during the raid and said if necessary, they are also willing to go to fight against terrorism to safeguard the motherland.

According to official data, ETIM plotted more than 200 violent incidents including explosions, assassinations, arsons, poisonings and assaults in Xinjiang and in other countries between 1990 and 2001, killing 162 people and injuring 440.

By People's Daily Online/China Daily