Battle against Xinjiang militants tougher, crueler than ever

Saimati Muhammat, a major general and deputy commander of the Xinjiang Military Area Command, said counterterrorism measures are in place to prevent incidents in Xinjiang.  

“The fight is not about ethnic issues, religion or cultural differences. They (terrorists) are enemies of people from all ethnic groups. The battle is complicated, harsh, fierce and cruel,” he said.

The revival of international terror groups has “caused many terrorist attacks around the world”, Zhang said without directly referring to rise of the Taliban and al-Qaeda, which reportedly backed the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), an organisation fighting for separation of the vast and resource-rich northwestern province from China.  

He said Xinjiang, which borders Central Asia besides Afghanistan, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and India, is the main battleground and on the frontline in the fight against terror.  

A worried China is already trying to forge a new strategy to deal with revival of the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan after US forces leave the country later this year.  

China has also held discussions with India, Pakistan and Russia in this regard as a return of extremist forces in Afghanistan would have a destabilising affect on Xinjiang.