Chinese state media says authorities have broken up 12 terrorist
organizations in the western region of Xinjiang so far this year.
Officials
in the city of Kashgar says the groups, including the East Turkistan
Islamic Movement and Hizb ut-Tahrir, were linked to international
terrorist organizations.
In recent weeks Chinese authorities
have reported disrupting or dismantling several terrorist groups that
allegedly posed a threat to August's Olympic Games in Beijing. The
state-run news agency Xinhua announced last week that police broke up
five groups in Xinjiang and arrested 82 suspected terrorists.
Beijing
has repeatedly said that terrorism poses the biggest threat to the
Olympics. But human rights groups say the government is using
terrorism as an excuse to crush dissent in Xinjiang.
Xinjiang
has eight million ethnic Uighurs, most of whom are Muslims. The
Chinese government has cracked down on separatist activity in the area,
and accused Uighur activists of trying to make Xinjiang an independent
state.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
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