{"id":154981,"date":"2013-04-24T03:29:43","date_gmt":"2013-04-24T10:29:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=154981"},"modified":"2013-04-24T07:43:34","modified_gmt":"2013-04-24T14:43:34","slug":"21-killed-in-clash-with-xinjiang-terrorists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2013\/04\/21-killed-in-clash-with-xinjiang-terrorists\/","title":{"rendered":"21 Killed in Clash With Xinjiang “Terrorists”"},"content":{"rendered":"

A violent confrontation between officials and police and armed men left 21 people dead<\/strong><\/a> and eight more in custody near the Xinjiang city of Kashgar on Tuesday. From Christopher Bodeen at The Associated Press:<\/p>\n

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Among the dead in the Tuesday afternoon fighting were 15 police officers and local government officials, the Xinjiang government propaganda office said in a news release. It said six assailants were killed on the spot and another eight were captured alive.<\/p>\n

“Initial investigations show this was a gang plotting to carry out terrorist acts and the case is now being further cracked open,” the release said.<\/p>\n

A leading activist from the region’s indigenous Turkic Muslim Uighur ethnic group questioned the official account, saying local sources said that police sparked the incident by shooting a Uighur youth during an illegal search of homes.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

CNN provided more details on the alleged terrorist activity<\/strong><\/a>:<\/p>\n

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[\u2026] Hou Hanmin, spokesperson for the Xinjiang government [\u2026] told CNN that some of the captured assailants said under interrogation that they had watched videos “from overseas” that featured violence and acts of terrorism.<\/p>\n

“Then they made those large, lethal knives and wanted to use them for Jihad,” she said, referring to the Arabic term meaning “struggle.”<\/p>\n

“They had been training in their own house for several months. They were affected by extremism and hoped to commit themselves to Jihad.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

But Human Rights Watch’s Nicholas Bequelin urged caution about claims that terrorism was involved<\/strong><\/a>. From Tania Branigan at The Guardian:<\/p>\n

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“China has made many unproven and questionable statements about terrorism in the region. That does not mean there isn’t anti-state violence happening there, but we should take with a lot of caution any claim of terrorism,” said Nicholas Bequelin, senior Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch.<\/p>\n

He added: “There are a lot of deaths and a dearth of explanation about them. Every time an incident has been investigated, it brings up elements that challenge profoundly the version put out by authorities.”<\/p>\n

He noted that there were criminal gangs in Xinjiang that could not necessarily be linked to terrorism, and added: “Anything that is outside of state-controlled religion is viewed by the Chinese government as illegal religious activity \u2013 and anything viewed as illegal religious activity is in turn associated with terrorism.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Bequelin added, on Twitter:<\/p>\n

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The 6 Xinjiang suspects are at v. high risk of torture. Police likely in need of “confessions” to back murky claims of terrorism.<\/p>\n

— Nicholas Bequelin \u6797\u4f1f (@Bequelin) April 24, 2013<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n