Raid on Chinese terror camp shows link to overseas forces

China’s foreign ministry today said police found links to international terror forces in a raid on an alleged terror camp near Pakistan last week.

Chinese police reported yesterday that they raided a training camp run by the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, or ETIM, in the far western region of Xinjiang on Friday, killing 18 suspects and arresting 17 others.

“There is a large amount of evidence that shows, including evidence we got from this raid, that the ETIM is associated with international terrorist forces and that they planned, organised and carried out a series of violent terrorist activities in China,” said foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao.

Liu gave no specific details about the alleged evidence or attacks and did not say which overseas terror forces the group was linked to.

China has said before that ETIM has links to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network.

Song Hongli, director of the general office of the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau, said one police officer was killed and another was wounded in the shoot-out.

Police were searching for suspects believed to have escaped during the raid, he said.