Chinese police kill Uighurs in rescue

By Chi-Chi Zhang, CNN

updated 2:06 AM EST, Thu December 29, 2011

Chinese Uighurs sell pomegranates in Pishan, Xinjiang, in a file photo from 2006.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• The operation in western China has left one police officer dead and another wounded
• A government official says the Uighurs took two local villagers hostage
• The motive for the kidnapping remains unclear
• The Chinese authorities often blame Uighurs for outbreaks of violence in the region

Beijing (CNN) -- The Chinese police have killed seven members of the Uighur ethnic group in the restive western region of Xinjiang in order to free two hostages, a local government official said Thursday.

The operation to recover the hostages left one police officer dead and another wounded, said Hou Hanmin, a spokeswoman for the chief of the regional information office.

The hostages -- local villagers looking for their lost sheep in the rural county of Pishan -- were kidnapped by a group of Uighurs on Wednesday night, according to Hou.

The motive for the kidnapping remains unclear and Hou said the authorities were still investigating whether the kidnappers belonged to a terrorist organization.

The Chinese authorities have often blamed militants of Uighur descent for outbreaks of violence in Xinjiang in recent years. Uighurs are ethnic Turks who are linguistically, culturally and religiously distinct from China's majority Han population.

Beijing has said Uighur militants are often based overseas and has linked some of them to the East Turkistan Islamic Movement that allegedly trains in Pakistan.

During the violence in Xinjiang this week, the Uighurs killed one police officer and wounded another before the officers opened fire and killed seven of the kidnappers, wounding four others, according to Hou. The police arrested several Uighurs, she said.

The clash comes after a two-month security crackdown, which ended in October, against violence, terrorism and radical Islam across the resource-rich region, which borders Pakistan, Afghanistan and numerous unstable Central Asian states.

The tightened security measures included 24-hour security patrols of troubled areas, identity checks and random street searches of people and vehicles.

Uighur activists say the crackdowns have only heightened anger among Uighurs who already accuse the government of religious and political repression. Uighurs also say they feel economically disadvantaged as a thriving Han population continues to move into the region.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rss/cnn_world/~3/O8l1S-qP5II/index.html

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