http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=303273&version=1&template_id=45&parent_id=25
Latest Update: Wednesday15/7/2009July, 2009, 10:29 PM Doha Time
Soldiers march on patrol as an Uighur man crosses the street in Urumqi in
northwest China's Xinjiang province
China issues security alert after threats from Al Qeada
Urumqi continues to remain under tight security while China also issues an
alert after the threat to avenge the deaths of Muslims
China issued a security alert yesterday to its citizens in Algeria after Al
Qaeda reportedly vowed to avenge the deaths of Muslims killed during ethnic
unrest in this northwestern Chinese city. The warning came as China raised
the death toll from violence on July 5 in Urumqi by eight to 192, in what was
the worst ethnic violence in the country in decades. A hefty police presence
remained in the capital of the Xinjiang region yesterday, allowing more
businesses and shops to re-open, but ethnic tensions continued to simmer. In
Algiers, China's embassy called on its citizens to be wary of any threats.
"The Chinese Embassy in Algeria is specially calling on Chinese-funded
organisations and personnel to raise their security awareness and strengthen
security measures," the embassy said in a statement on its website.
The statement said tougher security measures should be taken "in view of the
situation following the violent criminal incident in Urumqi on July 5" and
that any "emergency matter" should be reported to the embassy immediately.
London-based risk analysis firm Stirling Assynt said in a report issued on
Tuesday that an Al-Qaeda affiliate had vowed to avenge the deaths of Muslim
Uighurs killed in Xinjiang by targeting Chinese workers in north Africa. The
call came from Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the report said. It was the
first time Osama bin Laden's network has directly threatened China or its
interests, it noted.
Hundreds of thousands of Chinese work in the Middle East and North Africa,
including 50,000 in Algeria, the report said. The state-run China Daily carried
a front-page article yesterday publicising the embassy statement and reported
that China's diplomatic mission in Tunisia was working on contingency plans
following the Al-Qaeda warning.
Foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said on Tuesday that Beijing would "take
all necessary measures to ensure the safety of overseas Chinese institutions
and people." Before the latest update of the number of people killed from the
official Xinhua news agency, Chinese authorities had said unrest in Urumqi on
July 5 left 184 people dead.
Most were Han, China's dominant ethnic group, while more than 1,600 were
injured after a Uighur protest turned into a "riot", officials said.
Thousands of Han Chinese retaliated in the following days, arming themselves
with makeshift weapons and marching through parts of Urumqi vowing vengeance
against the Uighurs, according to witnesses and reporters at the scene.
The Uighurs, many of whom have chafed under China's 60-year rule in the huge
mountainous region, have accused Chinese forces of opening fire on peaceful
protests.
They say the number of people killed is far higher than the official tally and
that there were also attacks on Uighurs in other parts of Xinjiang. On
Monday, police shot and killed two knife-wielding Uighur "lawbreakers" and
wounded another in Urumqi, the government said, highlighting that the city
remained volatile.
Those deaths did not appear to be in China's official death toll, as Xinhua
referred only to the "riot" on July 5. The two deaths on Monday prompted a
flood of riot police into the Uighur district near where the shootings took
place, and the security clampdown was still in force yesterday.
Riot police stood at intersections in the district and kept control of the
area's main bazaar, which they have commandeered as a base. Steel fences that
could be quickly wheeled to block the streets were also placed on the side of
roads and traffic was still restricted in some areas.
As a result, some shops opened for the first time since the initial violence
broke out 10 days ago, including one mobile phone store in a Han area close to
the scene of Monday's shootings. A Uighur noodle shop owner said the strong
troop presence had provided some comfort. "We are getting back to normal
here, thanks to all the security around," he said, declining to give his name.
AFP
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