China names six terrorists

Beijing, April 6 (IANS) China has published a list of six Islamist terrorists who trained in Pakistani camps and announced it was freezing their funds and assets.

The six are all core members of the terrorist group "East Turkistan Islamic Movement", according to a statement issued Thursday by the Ministry of Public Security.

They have participated in the organization, planning and execution of terrorist acts against Chinese targets within and outside the country, Xinhua cited the ministry as saying.

The ministry hoped that foreign governments and their law enforcing departments would help to arrest the six and hand them over to Chinese authorities.

The "East Turkistan Islamic Movement" is still conducting propaganda and instigation among members of the "three evil forces" of separatism, extremism and terrorism who live in China, and attempts to stage terrorist acts, the statement said.

The group is the most direct and real safety threat that China faces, said a spokesperson of the Ministry of Public Security.

Militants who received training in terrorist camps in Pakistan set fire to a restaurant and randomly killed civilians in Xinjiang's Kashgar in July last year, leaving six civilians dead and 15 injured.

An investigation found that the group's leaders had learned how to make explosives and firearms in camps of the terrorist group "East Turkistan Islamic Movement" in Pakistan before entering Xinjiang to organise terrorist activities.

Xinjiang, which borders Pakistan and Afghanistan, is home to China's Muslim Uygur ethnic people.