Chinese forces ‘hunt down and kill 28 terrorists behind deadly attack at colliery’

Chinese security forces say they have hunted down and killed 28 “terrorists” from a group behind a deadly attack at a coal mine. The announcement was the first official mention of September’s attack at the Sogan colliery in the far western region of Xinjiang, in which it said 16 people, including five police officers were killed, and another 18 people injured. Attackers fled into the mountains and the authorities launched a manhunt with more than 10,000 people participating every day, forming an “inescapable dragnet”. The Xinjiang Daily reported: “After 56 days of continuous fighting, Xinjiang destroyed a violent terrorist gang directly under the command of a foreign extremist group.”

Aside from one person who surrendered, 28 thugs were completely annihilated

Xinjiang Daily report

Beijing says it faces a serious threat from Islamist militants in energy-rich Xinjiang where hundreds have died in violence in recent years. Rights groups say China makes the claims to suppress the Uighur people who live in Xinjiang. Until now, the only reports of the colliery attack came from unofficial US-sponsored radio which claimed 50 people had died. According to the latest report, two people who appeared to have Uighur names were leaders of the unnamed foreign group. Since 2008, the Xinjiang group’s members began watching extremist videos and communicated six times with an extremist group outside China’s borders, the Xinjiang Daily said. "Members of this foreign extremist group transmitted orders to the gang many times and demanded pledges of loyalty,“ it added.

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