A series of terrorist attacks during the last ten days in the Xinjiang province is drawing attention to the new prospect of an Islamist jihad against China. Timed to coincide with the opening of the Beijing Olympics, the violence in China’s has claimed more than 30 lives.
Despite the boldness of their recent attacks in Xinjiang, where western China meets Central Asia, Pakistan and India, the Islamic extremists are unlikely to pose a significant threat to the games themselves, which are being held under a massive security cover. Chinese officials say so far there has been no clear evidence to tie the terrorist attacks to known Uighur ethnic separatist groups. Xinjiang has a long history of separatist demands from the Uighurs, who are of Turkic ethnicity and Islamic faith.
The big question is whether there is a new radical Islamic dimension to the restiveness in Xinjiang that China has managed to contain until now. There is growing speculation that the new Islamist elements in Xinjiang might have links to the global jihadi network now entrenched in borderlands between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
In the past, top Pakistani officials had confirmed the presence of Uighur Islamic extremists training in its border regions along with terrorists from around the world. The scope of jihadi activity against China has been seen as modest, at least until recently.
http://newageislam.com/chinese-take-away--jihad-in-the-west/islam,terrorism-and-jihad/d/555
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3:55 AM
Moderate Islamist here
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