Sunday, 3 November 2013

China Says Terror Group Was Behind Tiananmen Attack



China Says Terror Group Was Behind Tiananmen Attack


China’s domestic security chief said a terrorist organization was behind this week’s attack at Beijing’s Tiananmen gate that left five people dead and 40 injured.
Speaking at a meeting in Uzbekistan, the official, Meng Jianzhu, said the East Turkestan Islamic Movement was a “behind-the-scenes instigator” of the assault Monday.
“The terrorist incident in Beijing was an organized, premeditated activity,” hetold Phoenix Television, a Hong Kong-based broadcaster. “The behind-the-scenes instigator is the East Turkestan Islamic Movement that is entrenched in central and west Asia.”
Mr. Meng, who was participating in a meeting of the antiterrorism body of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a grouping of China, Russia and four central Asian states, offered no further details on how investigators made that link. The Beijing police said they found a banner printed with “religious extremist messages” on the vehicle that crashed into a stone bridge and was ignited by the three occupants who died in the fire.
The three people in the vehicle were all believed to be ethnic Uighurs, as were five suspects who were arrested hours after the incident. Uighurs are a predominantly Muslim ethnic group, and some have resisted China’s authority over the Xinjiang region they call home and have protested outside influence on their language, culture and religion. Such opposition has at times turned violent, and Chinese security officials have often pointed to the involvement of terrorist organizations, particularly the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, or E.T.I.M.
The group, which seeks an independent Uighur state, was labeled a terrorist organization by the United States in 2002. That move was criticized by some scholars who said there was little evidence the group existed and suggested the move was intended to ease Chinese opposition to plans by the United States to invade Iraq.
Chinese officials have since linked E.T.I.M. to a 2008 attack on the border police in the Xinjiang city of Kashgar. The group claimed responsibility for aseries of 2011 attacks in Xinjiang, and last year, China named six people suspected of being E.T.I.M. members and said they were operating in Asia. A C.I.A. drone strike last year in Pakistan killed Emeti Yakuf, who had been identified as a senior leader of the group.
Overseas Uighur rights groups have questioned the Chinese government’s assertions about Uighur terrorism and the Tiananmen attack, saying they are impossible to verify given the authorities’ restrictions on independent reporting.
“The Chinese government will not hesitate to concoct a version of the incident in Beijing, so as to further impose repressive measures,” Rebiya Kadeer, a Uighur exile in the United States, said in a statement sent to reporters. Many Uighur advocates fear an aggressive security response will lead to further stigmatization of a group that already faces significant bias in Chinese society.   SINOSPHERE                             NY TIMES

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