China executed 13 people
today for “terrorist attacks” in the far western region of Xinjiang,
state media said, while a further three were sentenced to death for
staging a lethal attack in Tiananmen Square in Beijing.
“The 13 criminals had
planned violent terrorist attacks and ruthlessly killed police officers,
government officials and civilians, which took innocent lives, caused
huge property losses and seriously endangered public security,” the
official news agency Xinhua said.
Xinjiang is the
traditional home of Muslim Uighurs who speak a Turkic language, and
China has blamed previous attacks on Islamist separatists it says seek
to establish an independent state there called East Turkestan.
Exiled Uighur groups and
human rights activists say the government’s own repressive policies in
Xinjiang have provoked unrest, something Beijing denies.
The 13 executed men were
involved in attacks in different parts of Xinjiang, including one last
June that killed 24 policemen and local residents, Xinhua said.
In the Tiananmen case,
five people were killed and 40 hurt when a car ploughed into a crowd in
the square and burst into flames. Those killed included three people in
the car.
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