China clamps down on terror groups, offers amnesty to militants

BEIJING: Stepping up its crackdown against radical separatists in Muslim-dominated Xinjiang province, China today said it clamped down on 23 terror and religious groups in the troubled region and caught 200 suspects, even as it offered an amnesty to militants if they surrender.

Authorities in the northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region issued a joint statement last night calling for law-breakers who are involved in terrorist activities to surrender to get lenient punishments.

The 23 terror and extremist groups were busted and over 200 suspects caught this month in south Xinjiang's Hotan, Kashgar and Aksu prefectures, where the majority of the population are Muslim Uygurs, police said.

Over 200 explosive devices were also seized in the raids, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Many of the suspects were in their 20s and 30s, who watched terror videos through Internet and learned how to make explosives.

They exchanged their experiences of making explosives and propagating "jihad" through chatting tools, text messages and illegal preaching sites, according to the police.

In 2013, al Qaeda-backed East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM), listed by the UN Security Council as a terrorist group, produced 107 terror videos and audios, some of which were spread to China, according to a senior police officer with the regional public security department.

Many of the terror suspects caught in recent years were instigated by those video and audio products to carry out terrorist activities, he said.

The Ministry of Public Security today said the Chinese police will also launch a year-long nationwide anti-terror operation. The Xinjiang police announced the campaign on Friday.

The new initiative follows the bloodiest terror attack in years at a busy market in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang province, on Thursday that left 43 people dead nd 94 others injured.

China blamed the ETIM, which is fighting for the independence of Xinjiang, for various attacks in the recent past.

Xinjiang, bordering Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Afghanistan, is simmering with riots between native Uygur Muslims and Han settlers.

The ministry asked police in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and in the rest of the country to cooperate and launch a strong and joint offencive against terrorism.

Police have been asked to stop terrorists from striking again and prevent forces of terrorism and religious extremism from spreading from Xinjiang to the rest of the country.