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Hasan Mahsum (or Hassan Makhdum), also known as Abu-Muhammad al-Turkestani and Ashan Sumut, was the leader of the Islamic extremist group
Turkistan Islamic Party 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 ...
and suspected of having ties with Al Qaeda. He was shot dead in a counter-terrorism operation on October 2, 2003 by the Pakistani Army.


Political activities

Abdul Hameed, Abdul Azeez Makhdoom and Abdul Hakeem Makhdoom launched the Islamic Party of Turkistan in 1940. After being set free from prison in 1979, Abdul Hakeem instructed Hasan Mahsum and other Uyghurs in fundamentalist Islam. In 1989
Zeydin Yusup Zeydin Yusup, also known as Zeydin Kari or Ziauddin Yusuf, was one of main leaders of the Free Turkistan Movement. History In 1988 Abdul Kasim and Zeydin Yusup started the group which was originally called Free Turkistan Movement. The movement ...
started the group which was originally called East Turkistan Islamic Party (ETIP). The movement was reshuffled by Hasan Mahsum and Abudukadir Yapuquan in 1997 into its present incarnation. Mahsum, a native of Shule (Kunixar) County, became involved with the
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 ...
early in his life; in his late 20s, he was already a lecturer at a training camp in
Yecheng County Kargilik County ( transliterated from ; ); from Mandarin Chinese Yecheng County (), is a county in southwest of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and is under the administration of the Kashgar Prefecture. It contains an area of 28,600 km ...
, preaching
Jihad Jihad (; ar, جهاد, jihād ) is an Arabic word which literally means "striving" or "struggling", especially with a praiseworthy aim. In an Islamic context, it can refer to almost any effort to make personal and social life conform with Go ...
and advocating the use of violence against Chinese authorities. He was arrested in October 1993 by the Chinese police for terrorist activities and sentenced to three years of re-education through labour. After fleeing China in 1997 to Mecca, Mahsum joined the Taliban and lived in Afghanistan and Pakistan; he held an Afghan passport issued by the
Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...
. In early 1999, he was said to have met with
Osama bin Laden Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until Killing of Osama bin Laden, his death in 2011. Ideologically a Pan-Islamism ...
, who offered him US$300,000 of financial assistance for the East Turkestan Islamic Movement in the following year; Mahsum himself denied any connection with bin Laden. The Chinese government has accused him of directing a series of violent terrorist activities including robbery and murder in
Ürümqi Ürümqi ( ; also spelled Ürümchi or without umlauts), formerly known as Dihua (also spelled Tihwa), is the capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the far northwest of the People's Republic of China. Ürümqi developed its ...
on February 4, 1999 and violent murders in the Khotan region on December 14, 1999; it is believed that these attacks were carried out by an operative of his named Mutalif Kasim. Uyghur detainees at Guantanamo bay have confessed that they were trained by Abdul Haq and Hassan Mahsum in Afghanistan, Abdul Haq was the leader who threatened terror attacks on the 2008 Beijing Olympics, sits on the Shura Council of al-Qaeda, and subscribes to the methodology of al-Qaeda.


Death

Chinese, Pakistani, and US officials confirmed that Mahsum was shot dead in an early-morning raid on a suspected
al-Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...
training camp by the
Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ) is the Army, land service branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The roots of its modern existence trace back to the British Indian Army that ceased to exist following the partition of India, Partition of British India, wh ...
in South Waziristan, near the
Afghan Afghan may refer to: *Something of or related to Afghanistan, a country in Southern-Central Asia *Afghans, people or citizens of Afghanistan, typically of any ethnicity ** Afghan (ethnonym), the historic term applied strictly to people of the Pas ...
border, on October 2, 2003. The Pakistani army attacked an al-Qaeda hideout in South Waziristan near the border with
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
on 2 October 2003, shooting and killing eight terrorists, including Mahsum. '' The Beijing News'' and ''
International Herald Leader International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...
'' initially reported that the United States worked with Pakistan in a joint counter-terrorism operation, but Major General Shaukat Sultan, a spokesman for the Pakistani military, denied U.S. military involvement. Sultan said "DNA tests were conducted to determine it was him." The Chinese government assisted in identifying his body.


References


External links


Spokesperson's remarks on the Death of Hasan Mahsum, Head of the "East Turkistan Islamic Movement
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mahsum, Hasan Terrorism in China Terrorism in Pakistan 1964 births 2003 deaths Chinese Islamists Pakistani Islamists Deaths by firearm in Pakistan East Turkestan independence activists Uyghurs Muslims with branch missing People from Kashgar Turkistan Islamic Party Leaders of Islamic terror groups