China's Al-Qaeda

Read about the existence of some extremists in the northwestern side of Xinjiang province in China. Apparently on 5 Jan 2007, scores of people were killed and injured when the China's police stormed into their place. A police, from the anti-terrorist front, was killed. Police hunt was still continuing for some who had escaped the police dragnet.

The police has been tailing the Eastern Turkestan Islamic Movement for some time back. With Xinjiang being located near the international borders of Afghanistan and Pakistan, extremists dropping by in Xinjiang was not a surprised. Some facts about Xinjiang:-

* There are 20 million Muslims in China; 8.5 million live in Xinjiang 23,000 of the 30,000 mosques in China are in Xinjiang
* Muslims in China fall into distinct racial groups. The largest, the Hui, are widespread. The next biggest, the Uyghurs, are almost entirely in Xinjiang

Another group being monitored by the police is the East Turkestan Liberation Organization. The Human Rights Watch is of course watching what China is doing in Xinjiang as there were concerns raised in the way China was handling the ethnic people in the combat against terrorism.
more ..........China admits fear of Muslim terror as police kill 18 in mountain battle

Tags: Xinjiang Province, China, Terrorist, Eastern Turkestan Islamic Movement, East Turkestan Liberation Organization, Human Rights Watch, Muslim, Uyghur, Hui