Shanghai police have arrested 10 Turkish nationals suspected of aiding terrorists in China’s Xinjiang region by “supplying fake passports.”
These 10 arrests follow the arrests of 11 Chinese nationals, which took place in November, and an incident on January 12 where “Chinese police shot and killed six people in Xinjiang as they attempted to detonate explosives.”
According to The Guardian, nine of 11 arrested in November were “[purchasing] falsified Turkish passports for 60,000 yuan each” and the remaining two were helping facilitate the purchases.
Many of those accused of aiding terrorists are Uighurs, “a Muslim, Turkic-speaking minority group” in Xinjiang. Hundreds have been killed in ethnic violence in that region over the past two years.
The Chinese government has blamed the deaths and violence–“which include market bombings, riots, [and] sieges of police and government offices”–on “religious extremism and the influence of pernicious foreign groups.” Among the 10 Turkish nationals arrested at the Shanghai Pudong airport, some were departing for Syria, others for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
On August 6 Breitbart News reported that the city of Karamay responded to “Islamic terrorists” in Xinjiang by “[banning] people with large beards or Islamic clothing from traveling on public buses.” NDTV.com reported that the ban means “people wearing hijabs, niqabs, burkas, or clothing with the Islamic star and crescent symbol” could not ride on public busing.
Reuters reported that dozens of people were killed in Xinjiang in September in violence instigated by “explosions.” As rioting ensued, Chinese police shot and killed “40 people” who were trying to blow themselves up.
Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhwkins@breitbart.com.
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