The report in Tianshan Net, a news portal run by Communist Party officials in Xinjiang, was the first official confirmation of the bloody September 18 mine attack, which had been reported in a few foreign media but was kept tightly under wraps in China. Last month police quickly ruled out the possibility of a “terrorist act” when a series of 18 explosions killed at least seven people in the southern region of Guangxi.
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Xinjang Province borders Central Asia and is home to most of China’s Muslim Uighur ethnic minority.
Chinese security forces in the far western region of Xinjiang killed 28 “terrorists” from a group that carried out a deadly attack at a coal mine in September.
In a longer report today, the Xinjiang Daily said that after the coal mine attack, the gang fled into mountains and 10,000 people had been involved in the search for them, Reuters reported.
Rights groups say China has never presented convincing evidence of the existence of a cohesive armed group fighting the government.
“After 56 days of continuous fighting, Xinjiang destroyed a violent terrorist gang directly under the command of a foreign extremist group”.
“Aside from one person who surrendered, 28 thugs were completely annihilated”, the newspaper said.
It said members of the group began watching extremist videos in 2008 and communicated six times with an extremist group outside of China’s borders, requesting tactical guidance.
The Tianshan report came three days after RFA, citing named local sources, said police killed 17 suspects from three families, including women and children, who were accused of carrying out the mine attack. “China is a victim of terrorism” Xinhua said in a commentary late Thursday.
Beijing vehemently denies accusations of rights abuses, though independent verification of the situation in Xinjiang is hard because of tight government controls on visits by foreign reporters.
A few critics say the violence in Xinjiang stems from government policies that have marginalized the Uighurs, and also warn that Beijing’s harsh crackdown may be radicalizing a few Uighurs.
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It is unclear why the government waited so long to confirm that the incident took place but the timing will raise questions, particularly because the first details of the extraordinary police response emerged on Saturday, the day after the Paris attacks.
