Thousands mourn policeman who died in fight at terrorist camp

More than 2,000 people turned out on Tuesday to mourn the death of a 21-year-old policeman who died in a fire fight at a terrorist camp in the northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Huang Qiang, a policeman with the regional public security department, was killed in a gun battle Friday in the mountains of Pamirs plateau in southern Xinjiang.

Local officials and members of the public as well as Huang's colleagues and family, attended Tuesday morning's memorial service at a funeral home in Xinjiang's regional capital Urumqi.

Huang, born in September 1985, was a native of the southwestern Sichuan Province and became a policeman in 2005.

He was named a hero by the Ministry of Public Security and accepted posthumously as a member of the Chinese Communist Party.

A spokeswoman for the regional public security department said on Monday police had destroyed the terrorist camp, killing 18 terrorists and arresting 17.

"They seized 22 hand grenades and more than 1,500 others under production. They also seized guns and other homemade explosives," said Ba Yan.

She said the camp was run by the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), a group listed by the United Nations in 2002 as a terrorist organization.

Police found the terrorists operated mines near the camp to raise funds, she said.

Song Hongli, an officer with Xinjiang Public Security Department, said the Xinjiang police were still pursuing several terrorists who had fled and would keep the public informed of developments.

It is believed that more than 1,000 ETIM members have been trained by al-Qaeda.

Former head of the terrorist group, Hasan Mahsum, was shot dead by Pakistani troops on Oct. 2, 2003, in a joint anti-terror operation along the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Hasan Mahsum was accused of plotting a series of violent terrorist activities, including robbery and murder in Urumqi and murders in Xinjiang's Hotan region, which caused heavy loss of life and property.

Source: Xinhua