Bomb Breakthrough
According to reports by Reuters and AFP, a Uighur separatist group called the Turkestan Islamic Party has claimed responsibility for Monday's bus bombings in Kunming as well as a series of other terrorist attacks throughout the country. The group's leader, Commander Seyfullah, said:
Our aim is to target the most critical points related to the Olympics. We will try to attack Chinese central cities severely using the tactics that have never been employed.
Well sorry, Seyfullah, but bus bombings are a well-worn terrorist tactic- ask anyone in Israel. And fix your grammar.
More seriously, the Uighurs have often been unfairly blamed for many of China's ills, and tampering with the nation's sacred cow- the Olympics- will only increase the odds of a ruthless reprisal. This group, however, has placed its grievances under the umbrella of global jihad rather than traditional Uighur nationalism. It is difficult to say which claim is ultimately more futile.
UPDATE: A new Reuters report tells us that the Chinese government is now denying that the Turkestan Islamic Party was behind the attacks, despite their recent video claim. For more information, GoKunming and The China Digital Times are on the story.
Why would a group claim responsibility for an attack it didn't commit? The only plausible consequence that I foresee are additional troubles for China's Uighurs.
July 27th, 2008 - 13:29
“Why would a group claim responsibility for an attack it didn’t commit? ”
I could think of several reasons, the first being to grab attention.
Sorry, Matt, but don’t get too excited about this claim. Take a step back and look at it again. I’m calling it bullshit. First reason: Until now there has been no talk of any Uighur connection to the bombs. No eyewitnesses have described seeing any Uighur behave suspiciously in the run up to the attack. Nothing like that. You know how it is: If there was any hint of Uighur involvement it would’ve been broadcast immediately, both local people going apeshit at the bloody separatist scum and the government using it as yet another excuse to remind the world of it’s struggles with evil separatist terrorists and the need to clamp down hard in Xinjiang. Secondly, what’s up with that mysterious SMS sent around in the run-up to the blasts? Again, not the work of Islamist terrorists. Looks more like the ravings of a nutter. And I checked the website of this IntellCenter crowd and I noticed that this statement of Seyfullah’s was in the left-hand column undated below a different statement dated July 10. Seems a bit odd. There are also big problems with the other attacks claimed- dates being wrong, for example, or in one case, the explosive-laden tractor in Wenzhou, the case having already been solved and having nothing to do with any Uighur or Islamist group. Somebody somewhere (GVO http://tinyurl.com/6pwmc9, second comment) also pointed out that there are only 7 Olympic cities- Beijing, Shenyang, Qinhuangdao, Tianjin, Qingdao, Shanghai and Hong Kong, not the 8 the video claims. What kind of half-arsed terrorist can’t even get such basic facts right?
http://www.thenewdominion.net has some pretty good, more detailed coverage.
If I were more of a paranoid conspiracy theorist, I might even suggest this whole issue is a rather mediocre work of fiction cooked up by IntellCenter to draw attention to themselves…. At the very least, if this Seyfullah and Turkistan Islamic Party are who they claim to be, they are at best claiming other peoples’ bombs to boost their own profile.
July 28th, 2008 - 10:44
Looking back, you’re right. Even uneducated terrorists aren’t that amateurish. Plus, as you said, the government will use any opportunity it can to blame the Uighurs and this time it won’t bite.