- In an attack on a police station in Xinjiang region, blamed on the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) terrorist group by the Chinese govt, 13 mobsters were killed and 3 policemen injured.
- This follows a series of attacks happening in the Xinjiang region, which has seen increasing tensions between the Uighur muslims and migrant Han Chinese.
- The attacks have prompted strong reactions by the govt which very recently executed 13 people for ‘participating’ in terror groups, and arrested 55 others over terror charges.
- The increased security deployments and tightening has prompted reactions from Uighur groups overseas especially over Ilham Tohti, a prominent Beijing-based Uighur scholar, who was taken from his home and has been missing since.
- He had written about the role of State policies in fanning the tensions between the two communities and had also expressed fears over the continuing security crackdown and religious restrictions such as the recent “anti-veil” campaigns.
- Read at: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-international/13-killed-in-xinjiang-police-station-attack/article6137715.ece
Exams Perspective:
- East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM)
- Sectarian Violence in China