• Why Jihad Watch?
  • About Robert Spencer and Staff Writers
  • FAQ
  • Books
  • Muhammad
  • Islam 101
  • Privacy

Jihad Watch

Exposing the role that Islamic jihad theology and ideology play in the modern global conflicts

China: Tiananmen Square jihad attack revenge for police raid on Xinjiang mosque

Nov 8, 2013 8:44 am By Robert Spencer

“Permission to fight has been given to those who are being fought, because they were wronged. And indeed, Allah is competent to give them victory..” — Qur’an 22:39

“Tiananmen Attack Linked to Police Raid on a Mosque in Xinjiang,” by Andrew Jacobs for the New York Times, November 7:

Could the attackers responsible for a deadly assault on the heart of the Chinese capital on Oct. 28 have been motivated by revenge? That is the theory offered up by a former local official from the hometown of Usmen Hasan, the man identified by the Chinese police as the driver of a car that struck and killed two tourists before going up in flames at Tiananmen Square.

Mr. Hasan, his wife and his mother — all of them ethnic Uighurs from the far western region of Xinjiang “” died at the scene, according to the official media.

In a telephone interview with Radio Free Asia on Wednesday, Hamut Turdi, the former chief of Yengi Aymaq village in southwestern Xinjiang, described a police raid last year during which the authorities demolished parts of a new mosque that Mr. Hasan had helped finance.

After deeming the addition illegal, he said the government dispatched a demolition crew, backed by 100 armed police officers, who cut off the building’s water supply and destroyed an enclosed area for preparing ritual burials.

“I think it is highly possible that Usmen Hesen did this to take revenge for our villagers,” Mr. Turdi told Radio Free Asia, which is financed by the United States government. In the aftermath of the incident, Mr. Turdi says he was dismissed as village chief after 22 years in the position. A man who picked up the phone on Thursday at the local police headquarters declined to comment.

The account by a well-placed former official, albeit one with a possible ax to grind, potentially complicates the Chinese government’s efforts to brand the attack on Tiananmen Square as a strike by Islamic separatists who it says were directed by overseas jihadists. Although they have offered little in the way of proof, senior Chinese leaders as well as the official news media have sought to blame the attack on the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, a shadowy group whose ability to strike within China has been questioned by some Western analysts.

In recent days, China has launched a propagandistic fusillade against those who question its central narrative. When CNN and The Wall Street Journal ran commentaries criticizing the lack of transparency surrounding the events and raising the possibility that repressive policies in Xinjiang might have played a role, Communist Party-affiliated news outlets like Global Times, Xinhua and China Daily ran editorials calling them “vile,” “biased” and “way out of line.”

On Monday, the government expanded its attack, criticizing the White House’s apparent reluctance to label the incident an act of terrorism, at least during State Department briefings in which a spokesperson was pointedly asked to do so, according to Xinhua. In a commentary published on Thursday, the news agency accused the United States of maintaining a “double standard” on terrorism, and thus “condoning” terrorist attacks on Chinese soil. “To rationalize terrorism is to invite more of it,” Xinhua wrote.

No doubt about that. And whatever the U.S. government’s stance toward China may be, there is no doubt that it is reluctant to label acts of jihad “terrorism” — witness the ongoing denial about the Fort Hood jihad murders in 2009.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Follow me on Facebook

Filed Under: China


Learn more about RevenueStripe...

FacebookYoutubeTwitterLog in

Subscribe to the Jihad Watch Daily Digest

You will receive a daily mailing containing links to the stories posted at Jihad Watch in the last 24 hours.
Enter your email address to subscribe.

Please wait...

Thank you for signing up!
If you are forwarding to a friend, please remove the unsubscribe buttons first, as they my accidentally click it.

Subscribe to all Jihad Watch posts

You will receive immediate notification.
Enter your email address to subscribe.
Note: This may be up to 15 emails a day.

Donate to JihadWatch
FrontPage Mag

Search Site

Translate

The Team

Robert Spencer in FrontPageMag
Robert Spencer in PJ Media

Articles at Jihad Watch by
Robert Spencer
Hugh Fitzgerald
Christine Douglass-Williams
Andrew Harrod
Jamie Glazov
Daniel Greenfield

Contact Us

Terror Attacks Since 9/11

Archives

  • 2020
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2019
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2018
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2017
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2016
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2015
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2014
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2013
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2012
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2011
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2010
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2009
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2008
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2007
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2006
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2005
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2004
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2003
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • March

All Categories

You Might Like

Learn more about RevenueStripe...

Recent Comments

  • gravenimage on Uighur leader: ‘We’re actually quite worried’ about what Biden might let China get away with
  • OLD GUY on UK: Woman converts to Islam, distributes Islamic State jihad terror videos
  • OLD GUY on Al-Qaeda Calls on Jihadis to Kill Non-Muslims With Poisoned Coronavirus Masks
  • Boycott Turkey on Greece, Cyprus, Egypt, France and UAE conduct joint military exercises amid rising Turkish threat
  • Michael Copeland on New study reveals that Muslim religiosity strongly linked to hatred towards the West

Popular Categories

dhimmitude Sharia Jihad in the U.S ISIS / Islamic State / ISIL Iran Free Speech

Robert Spencer FaceBook Page

Robert Spencer Twitter

Robert Spencer twitter

Robert Spencer YouTube Channel

Books by Robert Spencer

Jihad Watch® is a registered trademark of Robert Spencer in the United States and/or other countries - Site Developed and Managed by Free Speech Defense

Content copyright Jihad Watch, Jihad Watch claims no credit for any images posted on this site unless otherwise noted. Images on this blog are copyright to their respective owners. If there is an image appearing on this blog that belongs to you and you do not wish for it appear on this site, please E-mail with a link to said image and it will be promptly removed.

Our mailing address is: David Horowitz Freedom Center, P.O. Box 55089, Sherman Oaks, CA 91499-1964

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.