China seeks Pakistan help to nab six terrorists (Third Lead)

Beijing, April 6 (IANS) China wants Pakistan to help arrest six Islamist terrorists whose assets and funds have been frozen.

The six were core members of the "East Turkistan Islamic Movement", Xinhua quoted the ministry of public security as saying.

They have participated in organising, planning and executing terrorist acts against Chinese targets within and outside the country, the ministry said.

The six terrorists were identified as Nurmemet Memetmin, Abdulkyum Kurban, Paruh Tursun, Tursunjan Ebibla, Nurmemet Raxit, and Mamat Imin Nurmamat.

The ministry did not name Pakistan but said the Chinese government hoped that "foreign governments" would help to arrest the six and hand them over to Beijing.

Militants trained in terrorist camps in Pakistan set fire to a restaurant and randomly killed civilians in Xinjiang's Kashgar in July 2011, leaving six civilians dead and 15 injured.

An investigation found that the group's leaders had learned how to make explosives and firearms in Pakistan before entering Xinjiang.

Xinjiang, which borders Pakistan and Afghanistan, is home to China's Muslim Uygur ethnic people.

The "East Turkistan Islamic Movement" is still conducting propaganda and attempts to stage terrorist acts, the public security ministry said.

The group is the most direct and real safety threat that China faces, said an official spokesperson.

Xinhua said that Nurmemet Memetmin, 47, was one of the founders of the ETIM in 1997. He published text and video statements on the Internet as the commander of the ETIM in August 2011.

He set up a terrorist training camp in a South Asian country in 1997 and acted as a military instructor there. He had trained dozens of terrorists, some of whom later became ringleaders, military instructors and core members.

Nurmemet Memetmin sent an ETIM member named Memtieli Tiliwaldi to China in 2007.

Memtieli Tiliwaldi and other terrorists staged a series of murders, bombings and arsons in Kashgar, Xinjiang in July 2011, resulting in multiple deaths and injuries of civilians and police officers.

Nurmemet Memetmin posted an online statement in August 2011, claiming the terrorist acts were conducted by the ETIM.

Abdulkyum Kurban, 30, is currently a propaganda chief of the ETIM. He has been inciting extremism and terrorism since 2009. In video statements published in August and October of 2011, he inspired extremists and terrorists in China to conduct suicide bombings and hack civilians with cleavers.

Paruh Tursun, 40, and Tursunjan Ebibla, 31, were accused of participating in the ETIM and instigating terrorist acts.

Nurmemet Raxit, 42, was accused of recruiting terrorists, assisting with the production of terrorist propaganda videos and providing funds for terrorist acts.

Mamat Imin Nurmamat, 29, had plotted arsons and murders in Shache, Xinjiang in July 2009, which were discovered and stopped by Chinese police. In October 2009, he and other terrorists accidentally caused an explosion while making bombs in Shache, which left one dead and one injured. He fled China after the explosion.

He received terrorist training in a South Asian country and recruited new members for the ETIM in a Southeast Asian country after he left China.

Chinese police have struck a heavy blow to the ETIM in recent years by cracking dozens of cases of terrorist acts and foiling terrorist attacks, said a spokesperson of the Ministry of Public Security.

However, the ETIM is still disseminating propaganda and inspiring members of the "three evil forces" of separatism, extremism and terrorism, and attempt to stage terrorist acts, said the spokesperson.

The group is the most direct and real safety threat that China faces, the spokesperson added.