Beijing : Twenty eight terrorists linked to foreign militants have been killed in China’s restive Xinjiang province in one of the major operations in the area where Uyghur Muslims have a majority, authorities said.
The militants responsible for a deadly attack on a coal mine in September that killed 16 people were eliminated in a 56-day operation by police in the province, the information department of Xinjiang said in a statement.
The hunt for the terrorists followed attack by a “group of armed mobsters” on a coal mine in Baicheng county of Aksu prefecture on September 18, the statement said. After the attacks on the mine the militants escaped into the mountains, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. After the attack, police began a daily manhunt that involved more than 10,000 citizens and police searching an area of 1,300 square kms, the report said.
“28 members of the group had been killed during back and forth gun fights with police. One surrendered,” it said. The terrorist group was directly guided by an overseas extremists group and led by two local Xinjiang men named Musa Tohniyaz and Mamat Aysa, the statement said.
