China's Far West provinces (inc. Tibet)

[AdamG]

The assailants set off more fiery blasts, and all together 43 people were killed and more than 90 wounded in Thursday's attack, the latest — and bloodiest — violence in China's far northwestern Xinjiang region in recent months.

A day after the attack in Xinjiang's capital of Urumqi, survivors told of their terror and said they no longer feel insulated from a long-simmering insurgency against Chinese rule, which has struck their city twice in recent weeks.

Local authorities said police have identified five suspects — four people who died in the attack and another who was caught Thursday — the official Xinhua News Agency reported. It said all five had "long been influenced by the religious extremism."

Chinese authorities have blamed most recent attacks on radical separatists from the country's Muslim Uighur minority.

http://news.yahoo.com/survivors-tell...050242096.html

[davidbfpo]

Police in China's troubled north-west region of Xinjiang have broken up 23 terror or extremist groups and detained more than 200 suspected militants in the last month, state media have reported. The news came as authorities said a year-long anti-terrorism crackdown would require "unconventional measures", and the region's party chief, Zhang Chunxian, announced a "people's war" against terrorism, following one of the most deadly attacks in years.

Link:http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...rism-crackdown

Some indication of the problems faced:

Those seized in this month's raids were captured in Hotan, Kashgar and Aksu – all in southern Xinjiang – according to state news agency Xinhua. The state-run Global Times newspaper said most were apprehended on Sunday.

"Many of the suspects were in their 20s and 30s, who watched terror video and audio through the internet and electric storages 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 department," said Xinhua, adding that more than 200 explosive devices were found.

[davidbfpo]

A first-hand report from the Chinese county near to the border with Afghanistan, Pakistan and Tajikistan:http://chinaincentralasia.com/2014/0...of-potentials/

[davidbfpo]

A reflective BBC report from Kunming, where in march 2014 a knife-wielding group of Uighurs attacked the central railway station, which left 29 people dead and more than 100 others wounded:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-28305109

Not much sign of the state response being POP centric. As one observer asks:

How do you, within a country of 1.4bn people, accommodate a minority community of 10 million people?

[davidbfpo]

The latest outbreak of violence in part of Xinjiang on Monday is not fully explained, partly as it was in Yarkand (in Chinese, Shache) county in Kashgar prefecture, a town far from non-Chinese gaze. Some reports have suggested hundreds were involved, with heavy casualties amongst the attackers.

The BBC has a report, but it is sketchy. It starts with:

Dozens of people have been killed or injured in violence in China's Xinjiang region on Monday, state media say.

Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-28539762

Radio Free Asia reports:

The head of the largest mosque in China who has been highly critical of violence by ethnic minority Muslim Uyghurs in the troubled Xinjiang region has been stabbed to death, according to witnesses and local officials.

Link:http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uygh...14221118.html?

[davidbfpo]

Via Twitter a very short clip of the latest attack in Hotan, captured by an Indian journalist based in Beijing:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLih...=youtube_gdata

First time I can recall footage of the violence.

[davidbfpo]

A commentary, even if there is no access to the scene and very little public information:

It was only on Sunday that the official Xinhua News Agency released a casualty count, saying a terrorist gang killed 37 people, who were mostly members of China's ethnic Han majority, with knives. Police gunned down 59 of the assailants, said to be led by a man with close ties to an overseas terror group. With a total death toll of 96, it appeared to be the most serious single instance of bloodshed since riots broke out in July 2009 in the regional capital of Urumqi that left nearly 200 dead. Yet, details remained scant for an incident of such proportions

Link:http://www.bigstory.ap.org/article/c...nce-tense-west