Jihad in China? “Chinese border assault kills 16,” from the BBC, August 4 (thanks to Un:dhimmi):
Sixteen Chinese policemen have been killed in an attack on a border post in the restive Muslim region of Xinjiang, state media say.
Two attackers reportedly drove up to the post in a rubbish truck and threw two grenades, before moving in to attack the policemen with knives.
The attack came four days before the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games….
Fourteen policemen died at the scene and two on the way to hospital. Another 16 policemen were hurt….
Xinjiang, in the north-west of the country, is home to the Muslim Uighur people. Uighur separatists have waged a low-level campaign against Chinese rule for decades.
Human rights groups say Beijing is suppressing the rights of Uighurs.
The BBC’s Daniel Griffiths in Beijing says China has spoken in the past of what it calls a terrorist threat from Muslim militants in Xinjiang, but it has provided little evidence to back up its claims….
Last week, a senior Chinese army officer warned that Islamic separatists were the biggest danger to the Olympics.
Col Tian Yixiang of the Olympics security command centre told reporters the main threat came from the “East Turkestan terrorist organisation”.
The term is used by the government to refer to Islamist separatists in Xinjiang.
Late last month a group called the Turkestan Islamic Party said it had blown up buses in Shanghai and Yunnan, killing five people.
But China denied that the explosions were acts of terrorism.
The Washington-based IntelCenter, which monitors terrorism communications, said the Turkestan Islamic Party had released a video entitled Our Blessed Jihad in Yunnan.
In it, the group’s leader, Commander Seyfullah, said it was responsible for several attacks and threatened the Olympics.
“The Chinese have haughtily ignored our warnings,” IntelCenter quoted him as saying.
“The Turkestan Islamic Party volunteers… have started urgent actions.”…