Is China a natural ally in the war on terror? Yes. An Islamist insurgency is raging in China. China, though, has generally suppressed any news of this insurgency. Official statistics put the death toll at 160 over the past 10 years in at least 260 seperate incidents, but the count is probably higher than that. Much higher.

Last month we brought you word of a suicide bomber blowing up a bus in China (images and story here). While that act of terrorism was probably unrelated to the jihad being waged against Beijing, it did spur me to look into the matter. Days after the bombing, an old video was posted at a forum I frequent made by terrorists linked to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda who operate in China's East Turkistan (known as Xinjiang in Chinese) region. The video was apparently produced in Afghanistan, which borders East Turkistan, and was a call to arms against the Communist regime. The video was almost identical to a number of al Qaeda videos made around the same time.

This website, run by the 'East Turkistan Information Center', is a good source of information, but may have ties to the East Turkistan Liberation Organization. It is noteworthy that East Turkistan may have been the original Islamic state. The Islamic Republic of East Turkistan was establlished in 1933 and survived only three years. But this Islamic Republic was established 45 years before a similar state was established in Iran.

Today, China ran a rare story about it's internal problems with radical Islamists. Xinhua:

The "East Turkistan" terrorist forces remain to be the great terrorist threat to China at presentand in future, a Chinese anti-terrorist official said here Monday.

"In the last decade, the terrorist threats that China confronted with were mainly terrorist activities of 'East Turkistan' terrorist forces inside and outside Chinese territory, international terrorist groups and terrorists," said Zhao Yongchen, deputy director of the Anti-Terrorism Bureau under the Ministry of Public Security.

"The terrorist activities carried out by the three terrorist forces have not only jeopardized China, but also posed a threat toregional security and stability," Zhao said.

On March 27, 2003, the East Turkistan Liberation Organization hijacked a passenger bus of a Xinjiang company, killed all the 21 passengers and the driver and set the bus on fire with the bodies inside it.

The three terrorist forces openly summon the extremists inside China to carry out terrorist activities aiming at kindergartens, schools and government, or attack Chinese armed forces and government agencies, with means of explosives and poison.

The forces, he said, have also become part of the international terrorist forces. "They have close ties and even align with terrorist groups including the Taliban, the Uzbekistan Islamic Liberation Movement and Al Qaeda."

According to Zhao, many members of the "East Turkistan" forces have received military training in terrorist bases in central and south Asia and directly have taken part in terrorist activities sponsored by owners of the bases.

Posted by: Rusty at 05:28 PM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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