October 22, 2008	Wednesday	Shawwal 22, 1429

BEIJING, Oct 21: Beijing on Tuesday published a list of eight Chinese Muslims based overseas who had allegedly threatened the Beijing Olympics, and appealed to other countries for help in capturing them.

Chinese police released photos of the eight men, aged between 31 and 43, who were said to belong to the outlawed East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) and are now believed to be living in other parts of Asia.

“They all took part in plotting, organising and executing various terrorist activities targeting the Beijing Olympic Games,” Public Security Bureau spokesman Wu Heping told reporters as he announced the most wanted list.

The ETIM -- listed by China, the United States and the United Nations as a terrorist organisation -- has been striving for many years to create an independent homeland in the Muslim-majority Chinese region of Xinjiang.

Xinjiang is a vast area of mountains and deserts that borders central Asia, has a population of 8.3 million, mainly Uighurs, a Muslim minority speaking a Turkic language.

Wu appealed to other countries for help in capturing the alleged terrorists.

“We hope that the governments of relevant countries and law enforcement agencies will... track them down, immediately arrest them and hand them over to China,” he said, without specifically naming which nations.

All eight men named were Uighurs, seven of whom had left China in the 1990s, with the other departing in 2006, according to a document released by the Public Security Bureau.

Wu alleged some of the eight had organised terrorist training, recruited members, raised funds for terrorist activities and manufactured poisons and explosives.

Other suspects were accused of propagating threats against the Beijing Olympics in August, or dispatching ETIM members to China and other countries to commit terrorist acts against Chinese nationals.

According to the more detailed PSB document, one suspect, Metusun Abuduhalike, propagated “extreme and violent terrorist thoughts” to extremists in Xinjiang, who had subsequently set up terrorist groups.

“These (groups) carried out many violent terrorist acts against government organisations, police and innocent people in Xinjiang before and during the Beijing Olympics.”

Chinese authorities and state press said more than 30 people died in violence in Xinjiang during August.

In the most deadly incident, two alleged Uighur militants using explosives and knives attacked policemen out jogging in the city of Kashgar on Aug 4, leaving 16 dead and 16 wounded.—AFP