BEIJING, Jan 8: Chinese police killed 18 people described as terrorists in a gunbattle in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, Xinhua reported on Monday. One policeman was killed and another wounded in the clash on Friday in the mountains of Pamirs plateau, Ba Yan, a spokeswoman for the Xinjiang public security department, told the news agency.

She said police captured 17 others and were pursuing several more after destroying what she described as a terrorist camp.

The spokeswoman said the camp was run by the East Turkestan Islamic Movement.

It was believed that more than 1,000 East Turkestan Islamic Movement members had been trained by Al Qaeda, said the report.

The former head of the group, Hasan Mahsum, was killed by Pakistani troops on Oct

2, 2003, in a joint anti-terror operation along the Afghan border.—Reuters