China Says Xinjiang Camp Raided by Police Had 'International Terrorist' Links

Chinese officials say police have raided what they call a "terrorist camp" in Xinjiang with links to "international terrorist forces." The official Xinhua news agency says the 18 people killed in the raid Friday were from the East Turkistan Islamic Movement. Chinese officials say the group is linked to al-Qaida. The group was added to U.S. and U.N. terrorist lists in 2002.

China says 17 people were detained during the raid in the mountainous Pamirs plateau in the far west of China, near Pakistan and Afghanistan. One policeman was killed.

Human rights groups and experts on Xinjiang say the Chinese government has produced little evidence of organized terrorism. They say Beijing uses terrorism as an excuse to suppress Xinjiang's ethnic minority Uighur population. Uighurs are a Turkic-speaking Muslim people with a culture closer to Central Asia's than mainstream China's.

中国官员说，中国警方突袭了他们所说的新疆的一个与“国际恐怖势力”有联系的“恐怖分子营地”。官方的新华社说，在星期五的突袭行动中被打死的18人是 “东突厥斯坦伊斯兰运动”的成员。中国官员说，该组织与基地组织有关联。2002年，这个组织被列入美国和联合国的恐怖组织名单。

中国说，突袭行动发生在西北最偏远的帕米尔高原上，靠近巴基斯坦和阿富汗边境，有17人在行动中被抓获，一名警察丧生。

人权组织和新疆问题专家说，中国政府几乎没有提供有组织的恐怖主义的证据。他们说，北京利用恐怖主义作为借口打压新疆的维吾尔少数族裔。维吾尔人是讲话属于突厥语系的维吾尔语的穆斯林，与中国的主流相比，他们在文化上更接近中亚地区。