Official: Security situation in Xinjiang 'severer'

BEIJING -- The security situation in China's northwestern region Xinjiang will be "severer" this year, the regional governor said here Friday.

"The (security) situation will be more severe, the task more arduous, and the struggle more fierce in the region this year," Nur Bekri, chairman of the Xinjiang regional government, said on the sidelines of the annual parliament session.

This year marks the region's 60th anniversary of peaceful liberation. The far western autonomous region is home to more than 10.96 million of ethnic minority people, including Uygur, Mongolian and Hui.

"It's a time of celebration for Xinjiang people but hostile forces will not give up such an opportunity to sabotage," said Nur Bekri.

He added that the region did a lot of security work for last year's Beijing Olympics, but "this year's fight against the 'three forces' of separatists, terrorists and extremists is more arduous."

The "three forces" have foreign backings, he said, adding they could not survive without foreign support.

"They don't want to see Xinjiang's prosperity," he said.

The Intermediate People's Court of Kashgar sentenced in December two terrorists in the August 4 attack on police in Xinjiang. Seventeen people were killed and 15 injured in the attack in Kashgar four days before the Beijing Olympics.

The Kashgar court said the two conducted the terrorist attack to sabotage the Beijing Olympic Games that began August 8.

Six days later, a string of explosions in supermarkets, hotels and government buildings rocked the region's Kuqa county, killing a security guard and a civilian and injuring two police officers, two civilians and another security guard.

Police said that in the first half of 2008, five terrorist groups were cracked in Xinjiang and 82 suspected terrorists detained.

In October, the police published the names of eight alleged terrorists belonging to the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM), the Allah Party or the East Turkistan National Revolution Association, which is said to be one of the most dangerous terrorist organizations among the "East Turkistan" terrorist groups.

China accused the Allah Party of being engaged in activities aimed at  splitting the country by means of terror and establishing a theocratic "East Turkistan Islamic State" in Xinjiang.

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