'Anti-Terrorist' crackdown in China

The latest arrests were instigated by a May 22 attack in Urumqui, the capital of Xinjiang. During the incident, men, who were driving off-road vehicles and throwing explosives, plowed through a crowded market. Thirty-nine people were killed, including four suspects.

The state news portal Xinjiang Net said that the arrested individuals were "suspected of crimes of inciting separatism, assembling to disturb social order, illegal business activities, and inciting ethnic hatred and ethnic discrimination."

These arrests are part of a larger anti-terrorist operation in China in which hundreds of suspects have been detained.

During the past year, increased attacks in Xinjiang have posed a major security challenge to Chinese President Xi Jinping. On April 30, two suspects and one bystander were killed at an Urumqui train station in an apparent terrorist attack. In March, 29 people were stabbed to death at a train station in the city of Kunming. Last October, three attackers and two tourists were also killed in Beijing when they drove their SUV through crowds which gathered in front of Tiananmen Gate, setting the SUV alight.

At a meeting last month, President Xi called for "copper walls and iron barriers" as well as "nets spread from the earth to the sky" to stop the terrorists. However, he also promised more support for education and employment in Xinjiang.

Experts believe that these factors are the very source of the problem, saying that economic marginalization of Uighurs in particular is one of the main causes of the violence.

Rights groups also contend that Uighurs, who speak a Turkic language, have problems with discrimination. Most jobs go to migrant workers from other parts of China, they say.

In the past, Uighurs frequently complained about restrictions on their language, culture, religious worship and other freedoms.

as/msh (dpa, Reuters)