Beijing - An exiled group of China's Uighur Muslims said
Thursday that police have arrested more than 100 people following the
August 4 attack in Kashgar city which killed 16 paramilitary officers.
The attack, which China said was carried out by two Uighur men,
was among a string of deadly assaults carried out against government,
police and security personnel in north-west China's tense Xinjiang
region before and during the Beijing Olympics. At least 26 people
were killed in a 10-day period.
Those arrested include people who came to Kashgar from surrounding
counties and towns, said Dilxat Raxit, spokesman for the Munich-based
World Uyghur Congress.
Some of the detained were beaten and had wounds to their head and
legs, Raxit said, citing local sources.
One Kashgar official contacted by Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa
Thursday said: 'There weren't that many people arrested,' but refused
to elaborate. Another official said he was not aware of the
situation.
Meanwhile, Kashgar's Shule county government has shut down its
website after it was hacked. The flag used by Uighur separatists to
represent an independent state of East Turkestan was posted
on the website, along with a message calling for independence, the
Uighur group said.
The website was inaccessible Thursday, but local officials could
not be reached to comment.
The exiled Uighur group also released a copy of a bulletin it said
it obtained revealing that the Kashgar government has called for a
stepped up campaign against Uighurs following a meeting Monday by
local officials to 'stabilize the situation.'
The bulletin called for stepping up surveillance and control,
including focusing on people who are loners, secretive in their
speech or actions or are devout Muslims, including those who go
outside their community for religious services.
'At roadside checkpoints into Kashgar, they pay special attention
to people who appear religious, including men with beards and women
who wear head scarfs,' said Raxit.
The bulletin also calls for stepping up patrols of neighbourhoods
and monitoring of religious activities.
The number of people arrested will likely go up, Raxit said,
urging the international community to adopt a more effective and
concrete plan to pressure Beijing to stop 'trampling on' Uighurs'
rights.
Human rights groups have criticized China for not making a
distinction between violent terrorists and Uighurs expressing
peaceful dissent, including those who favour independence, which they
said should not be a crime.
Earlier the Uighur group said about 90 people were arrested
following a series of bombings in Kuqa county on August 10. Ten
'terrorists' were killed by police bullets or their own bombs, the
government said.
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