Xinjiang group placed on UN terror list

The United Nations has put the East Turkestan Islamic Movement on its list of terrorist groups, Agence France-Presse reported. China said that the group, based in Xinjiang autonomous region, had killed 166 people and had links to the al-Qaeda organisation.

The listing had the support of the US as well as China. US deputy secretary of state Robert Armitage said that America had placed the group on its list of terrorist organisations because it had committed acts of violence against unarmed civilians, according to the Financial Times. On September 11, China's vice minister for culture, Pan Zhenzhou, and the US Ambassador to China, Clark Randt, pledged that the two countries would work together in fighting terrorism.

The government has also stepped up internal anti-terrorist activities. The Ministry of Public Security has set up a domestic anti-terrorism bureau to counter the activities of the Xinjiang group and other separatists viewed by the government as terrorists, reported China Daily.