Beijing, Sept 17 (ANI): A spokeswoman for the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has said there is no evidence that the recent attacks in the region in China were carried out by attackers trained in Pakistan.
China had earlier claimed that a group of religious extremists led by 'culprits' trained in overseas terrorist camps were behind the weekend attack on civilians in the country's far-western Xinjiang region.
However, the regional spokeswoman, Hou Hanmin, has now said that attackers were loosely organized with no obvious links to extremists in Pakistan or elsewhere.
"These people are local, and the weapons they used are homemade. We can't be certain there were any ties with the outside," the Wall Street Journal quoted her, as saying.
A spokeswoman for China's Foreign Ministry has declined to comment specifically on the statements, but reiterated Beijing's belief that foreign influences are involved in the unrest in Xinjiang.
"In Xinjiang and Central Asia, there have been a series of violent terrorist incidents in recent years. They have all involved domestic and foreign collaboration," spokeswoman Jiang Yu said.
It was reported in the beginning of last month that the initial probe has shown that the heads of the group had learned skills of making explosives and firearms in overseas camps of the ETIM in Pakistan before entering Xinjiang to organise terrorist activities. (ANI)
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