Abdullah Mansour is a leader of the

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 ...

, an

Islamic Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the mai ...

and Uyghur separatist organization founded by militants in western

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 ...

, the

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 ...

region. Its stated goal is the independence of East Turkestan. The group is active in the ongoing Xinjiang conflict. Between 2008 and 2013 Mansour was an editor of his movements quarterly publication ''Islamic Turkistan'', before rising to its leadership.

Biography

According to

IntelCenter IntelCenter is a United States company, founded in 1989. It is based near Washington, D.C., in Alexandria, Virginia. The company "is a private contractor working for intelligence agencies".

, Mansour was seen in a 2008 video, holding an assault rifle and stating: "We, members of the Turkestan Islamic Party, have declared war against China. We oppose China’s occupation of our homeland of East Turkestan, which is a part of the Islamic world." He threatened coming attacks against the

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 ...

held in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. In an eight-minute audio clip published online by SITE Intelligence Group, Mansour claimed responsibility for the

2013 Tiananmen Square attack On 28 October 2013, a car ran over pedestrians and crashed in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, China, in a terrorist suicide attack. Five people died in the incident; three inside the vehicle and two others nearby. Police identified the driver as Usme ...

which killed five people and injured 38 on 28 October 2013. In the message Mansour warned of future attacks by Uyghur fighters, including one targeting the

Great Hall of the People The Great Hall of the People is a state building located at the western edge of Tiananmen Square in Beijing. It is used for legislative and ceremonial activities by the government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the ruling Chinese Co ...

. He is quoted as having stated: "The people have learned who is the real enemy and they returned to their own religion. They learned the lesson." In March 2014 interview with ''

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was estab ...

'' from an undisclosed location in

North Waziristan North Waziristan District ( ps, شمالي وزیرستان ولسوالۍ, ur, ) is a district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. It is the northern part of Waziristan, a mountainous region of northwest Pakistan, bordering Afghanist ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

, Mansour stated that it was his holy duty to fight China, and promised further attacks. Also in March 2014, Mansour expressed support for the

2014 Kunming attack A group of eight knife-wielding terrorists attacked passengers in the Kunming Railway Station in Kunming, Yunnan, China, on 1 March 2014. The attackers pulled out long-bladed knives and stabbed and slashed passengers at random. The assailants ...

, without claiming responsibility.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mansour, Abdullah Chinese Islamists East Turkestan independence activists Living people Uyghur activists Turkistan Islamic Party Year of birth missing (living people)

Biography

See also

References