The January 2007 Xinjiang raid was carried out on January 5, 2007, by Chinese

paramilitary A paramilitary is a military that is not a part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the term "paramilitary" as far back as 1934. Overview Though a paramilitary is, by definiti ...

police against a suspected East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) training camp in

Akto County Akto County (also known as Aqtu, Aktu, or Aketao; zh, c=阿克陶县, p=Ākètáo Xiàn) is a county in Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China. The county borders Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan and has five ...

in the Pamir plateau. A spokesperson for the

Xinjiang Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC romanization, SASM/GNC: Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Sinkiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People' ...

Public Security Department said that 18 terror suspects were killed and 17 captured. Those captured were either sentenced to death or life imprisonment. The raid also resulted in the death of one Chinese

officer, Huang Qiang, age 21, and the injury of another officer. Authorities confiscated hand grenades, guns, and makeshift explosives from the site. ETIM is classified by the United Nations as a terrorist organization. In reaction, many exiled

Uyghur Uyghur may refer to: * Uyghurs, a Turkic ethnic group living in Eastern and Central Asia (West China) ** Uyghur language, a Turkic language spoken primarily by the Uyghurs *** Old Uyghur language, a different Turkic language spoken in the Uyghur K ...

leaders quickly questioned the motives behind the raid. Rebiya Kadeer, a Uyghur human rights activist, called for an independent UN investigation into the raid, while Alim Seytoff, executive chairman of the World Uighur Congress, claimed the

Chinese government The government of the People's Republic of China is based on a system of people's congress within the parameters of a Unitary state, unitary communist state, in which the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) enacts its policies through people's ...

has yet to produce evidence to substantiate the camp's connections to terrorism. In response, Zhao Yongchen, vice head of the Xinjiang counterterrorism forces, reiterated the reality of the camp's terrorist threat.

References

Terrorism in China 2007 in China East Turkestan independence movement Xinjiang conflict {{Mil-hist-stub

See also

References