Was this a jihad attack? There is no way to tell as yet, but Malaysian police and Interpol are “taking a close look at a 35-year-old passenger of Uighur descent” — that is, a member of the Muslim group in western China that has been waging jihad with increasing ferocity against the Chinese recently — who “undertook flight simulation training.”
“Missing Malaysia Airlines jet: Investigation paying ‘special attention’ to Chinese Uighur passenger,” by Lindsay Murdoch for the Sydney Morning Herald, March 13 (thanks to Doc):
Police investigating the backgrounds of all 239 people aboard the missing Malaysia Airlines flight are paying “special attention” to a 35 year-old Chinese Uighur man who undertook flight simulation training, according to a report in a leading Malay language newspaper in Kuala Lumpur.
The Uighurs Muslim ethnic minority group from the north-western Chinese province of Xinjiang have been battling for independence since they were brought under Chinese control in 1949, claiming they are oppressed by China’s authoritarian government and face religious restrictions and widespread discrimination.
Earlier this month the Uighurs, who make up 45 percent of the population of Xinjiang, were blamed for a violent attack at a Chinese train station.
At least 100 people have been killed in the past year in violent clashes between Uighurs and Chinese security forces.
The Harian Metro newspaper quoted an unnamed source as saying the man is not a suspect over the plane’s disappearance but that investigators were delving into his background.
According to the source the man has a PHD from a university in Britain was recently worked as a lecturer at a university in Turkey.
The source said he undertook flight simulation training in Sweden in around 2006….