The 2008 Kashgar attack () occurred on the morning of 4 August 2008 in the city of
Kashgar
Kashgar ( ug, قەشقەر, Qeshqer) or Kashi ( zh, c=喀什) is an oasis city in the Tarim Basin region of Southern Xinjiang. It is one of the westernmost cities of China, near the border with Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Pakistan ...
in the Western Chinese province of
Xinjiang
Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...
. According to Chinese government sources, it was a terrorist attack perpetrated by two men with suspected ties to the
Uyghur separatist movement. The men reportedly drove a truck into a group of approximately 70 jogging police officers, and proceeded to attack them with grenades and machetes, resulting in the death of sixteen officers.
Background
The
Uyghurs
The Uyghurs; ; ; ; zh, s=, t=, p=Wéiwú'ěr, IPA: ( ), alternatively spelled Uighurs, Uygurs or Uigurs, are a Turkic ethnic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the general region of Central and East Asia. The Uyghur ...
are the
largest ethnic group in ethnically diverse
Xinjiang
Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...
, making up just over 45% of the population. The Uyghur movement's use of militant separatism has resulted in it being described as a dangerous movement. In particular, the
Eastern Turkestan Islamic Movement
The Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) or the Turkistan Islamic Movement (TIM), formerly known as the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) and other names, is a Uyghur Islamic extremist organization founded in Western China. Its stated goals ar ...
(ETIM) is a proscribed
terrorist organisation
A number of national governments and two international organizations have created lists of organizations that they designate as terrorist. The following list of designated terrorist groups lists groups designated as terrorist by current and fo ...
according to classification by the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
. Among other incidents,
East Turkestan independence movement
The East Turkestan independence movement ( ug, شەرقىي تۈركىستان مۇستەقىللىق ھەرىكىتى; zh, s=东突厥斯坦独立运动) is a political movement that seeks the independence of East Turkestan, a large and spa ...
organisations have claimed responsibility for the
2008 Kunming bus bombings; however, China denied that the group was responsible.
The
Uyghur Human Rights Project
The Uyghur Human Rights Project ( zh, s=维吾尔人权项目, ug, ئۇيغۇر كىشىلىك ھوقۇق قۇرۇلۇشى; abbreviated UHRP) is a research-based advocacy organization located in Washington, D.C. that promotes human rights for Uy ...
alleges that China often exaggerates these threats to justify repression of the Uyghur people.
Details
Two attackers were involved in the incident near the western city of
Kashgar
Kashgar ( ug, قەشقەر, Qeshqer) or Kashi ( zh, c=喀什) is an oasis city in the Tarim Basin region of Southern Xinjiang. It is one of the westernmost cities of China, near the border with Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Pakistan ...
. The
Xinhua News Agency
Xinhua News Agency (English pronunciation: )J. C. Wells: Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, 3rd ed., for both British and American English, or New China News Agency, is the official state news agency of the People's Republic of China. Xinhua ...
said the attack happened at about 08:00 (00:00 GMT). One of the men drove a dump truck into a group of border patrol police officers as they were jogging on a street. The attacker then got out of the truck and started attacking other officers with homemade explosives. The explosives went off prematurely and blew off one of his arms. The other attacker threw
improvised explosive device
An improvised explosive device (IED) is a bomb constructed and deployed in ways other than in conventional military action. It may be constructed of conventional military explosives, such as an artillery shell, attached to a detonating mechan ...
s at a nearby police office. He then went into the building with a knife, but was subdued by police officers inside the complex. Both perpetrators were captured during the raid. Fourteen policemen died at the scene and two died on the way to hospital; another 16 policemen were hurt, Xinhua state news agency reported. The attackers were later identified as males, taxi driver Kurbanjan Hemit (28), and vegetable vendor Abdurahman Azat (33). They are members of the Uyghur ethnic group, and it was suspected that the attack was a terrorist action by
Eastern Turkistan separatists.
The news agency Xinhua claimed in their English-language version that the incident was a terrorist attack; on the other side, in their Chinese-language version, the incident was only labeled as a violent crime. Police investigators later claimed that they had found documents calling for a
holy war
A religious war or a war of religion, sometimes also known as a holy war ( la, sanctum bellum), is a war which is primarily caused or justified by differences in religion. In the modern period, there are frequent debates over the extent to wh ...
, a homemade firearm, and nine explosives. Police also claimed the design of these explosives was very similar to the explosives made by the ETIM when Chinese police raided their training facility in January 2007. Xinjiang's regional public security department also claimed that it had received intelligence that the East Turkestan independence movement planned to carry out terrorist attacks during the week before the opening ceremonies of the Olympic games. This incident happened four days before the
Beijing Olympics, after repeated warnings in recent months from the Chinese government that militants from the restive Xinjiang region were planning to stage attacks to disrupt the Games.
In September 2008, the New York Times reported that three tourists who witnessed the events disputed central details of the official story. According to the eyewitnesses, no explosions were heard and the attackers appeared to be machete-wielding police officers attacking other uniformed men.
Reactions
The exiled Uyghur Muslims leader and human rights activist
Rebiya Kadeer
Rebiya Kadeer ( ug, رابىيە قادىر, translit=Rabiye Qadir; born 15 November 1946) is an ethnic Uyghur businesswoman and political activist. Born in Altay City, Xinjiang, Kadeer became a millionaire in the 1980s through her real estate ...
condemned the reported attack and stated that "China is using the 2008 Olympics as an opportunity to further demonise the Uighur people's legitimate and peaceful struggle and justify its heavy-handed repression in the region." The Chinese government reacted with a clampdown in Kashgar and Xinjiang, increasing security checks and restricting independent news coverage.
Detention of media
On the night of 4 August, a ''
Tokyo Shimbun
''The Tokyo Shimbun'' (東京新聞, ''Tōkyō Shinbun'', literally ''Tokyo Newspaper'') is a Japanese newspaper published by The Chunichi Shimbun Company. The group publishes newspapers under the brand name of The Tokyo Shimbun in the Tokyo Metr ...
'' cameraman and a
Japanese TV reporter, along with two
Hong Kong reporters making reports near the police post were detained by security. The two Hong Kong reporters were not harmed; however, the Japanese reporters were beaten and punched. All four were released after two hours of detention. The Japanese government protested against the Chinese actions, although it has made no formal statement as there was no confirmation.
Chinese officials and police in Kashgar have apologised for the incident, but accused the two men of breaking rules.
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See also
* 2008 Uyghur unrest
The 2008 Uyghur unrest is a loose name for incidents of communal violence by Uyghur people in Hotan and Qaraqash county of Western China, with incidents in March, April, and August 2008. The protests were spurred by the death in police custody ...
* 2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kashgar attack, 2008
2008 disasters in China
East Turkestan independence movement
History of Xinjiang
Improvised explosive device bombings in China
Islamic terrorism in China
Islamic terrorist incidents in 2008
Kashgar
Mass murder in 2008
Terrorist incidents in China in 2008
Xinjiang conflict
Terrorist incidents involving knife attacks
Terrorist incidents involving vehicular attacks
Turkistan Islamic Party
August 2008 events in China
Vehicular rampage in China
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
21st-century mass murder in China