China kills 28 of Xinjiang ‘terror group’

The killings took place over the course of a 56-day manhunt following an attack on a colliery in Aksu in September that left 16 people dead

The Chinese police has killed 28 members of a “terrorist group” in the mainly Muslim Xinjiang region, authorities announced Friday, in the bloodiest such operation in months and as Beijing denounces Western “double standards” in the wake of the Paris attacks.

The killings took place over the course of a 56-day manhunt following an attack on a colliery in Aksu in September that left 16 people dead, said the Xinjiang regional government’s Tianshan web portal. One “thug” surrendered, it added. It was the first official confirmation of both the attack on the mine and its aftermath.

Xinjiang is the homeland of the mostly Muslim Uyghur ethnic minority, many of whom complain of discrimination and controls on their culture and religion, and is often hit by deadly unrest.

The assault on the colliery was “a violent terrorist attack under the direct command of an overseas extremist organisation”, Tianshan said.

China’s official Xinhua news agency cited a Xinjiang government statement identifying the attack leaders as Musa Tohniyaz and Mamat Aysa, both apparently Uyghur names.

Friday’s reports came after Radio Free Asia , which is funded by the US government, said that more than 50 people, including five policemen, were killed in a knife attack at a colliery in Aksu in September.

The assailants targeted security guards, the mine owner’s house, and a workers’ dormitory, it said.

Earlier this week RFA cited government and local sources as saying 17 suspects, including seven women and children — among them a one-year-old and six-year-old — had been killed by authorities.