China denies bus attacks connected to terrorism (Roundup)

Jul 26, 2008, 11:40 GMT

Beijing - Chinese authorities on Saturday denied claims by a purported Uighur separatist group of a terrorist connection to the July 21 bus attacks in Yunnan province and a May 5 attack in Shanghai.

In a three-minute-long video placed on the internet Saturday, a shrouded person claiming to be a commander of the Turkestan Islamic Party called for attacks in China during the Olympics games. The video also claimed that the group was behind a series of explosions in China in the past months.

'No evidence has been found to indicate the explosions were connected with terrorists and their attacks, or with the Beijing Olympics,' a Yunnan government security spokesman was quoted by the official Xinhua news agency as saying.

Shanghai police also said the May 5 bus attack was not terrorism related.

Independent experts also questioned the authenticity of the video, US authority on the Uighur people, Dru Gladney, told Deutsche Presse- Agency dpa.

Exile Uighur groups have so far not called for any disturbances during the Olympic Games.

International security experts have linked the Turkestan Islamic Party with the East Turkestan Independence Movement (ETIM), both of which are considered terrorist groups by China and the United States.

Gladney however pointed out that the ETIM has not been in operation for years. The movement, should it still exist, he said, did not have many adherents to begin with, adding that the China generally uses the name ETIM as label for all Uighur independence groups.

Xinjiang province in north-western China is along with Tibet a source of political tension in China. The territory's Turkic Muslim Uighurs have complained of repression by Chinese authorities. After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the former East Turkestan was annexed as an autonomous region - in a similar manner to Tibet.

Exile Uighurs have called for the reestablishment of a former East Turkestani republic.