Nine suspects are being pursued after they launched a coordinated knife attack and killed 50 workers at a northwestern Chinese coal mine, reports Radio Free Asia.
The incident occurred on September 18 in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The attackers are alleged to be Uyghur separatists.
After overtaking security guards, the attackers killed the workers while they were asleep in bunkhouses at the Sogan colliery in Aksu. Another 50 workers were injured. The suspects are believed to be hiding in a nearby mountain ravine where a manhunt operation is underway.
Most of the victims were Han Chinese.
The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region suffers from discord due to ethnic fault lines. Uyghurs identify more closely with Central Asian nations. The area was independent up to 1949 when it became part of China. China has been asserting is control over the area with more westward migration and a heavier military presence.
Information about the attack is being guarded by officials:
“The damage of the attack was very severe—that is why we are controlling [the flow of] information about the incident so strictly, lest we frighten Han migrants in Aksu,” said the cadre, speaking on condition of anonymity.
SEE ALSO: China launches massive military manhunt for coal mine killers
An area double the size of Manhattan has been cordoned off as authorities pursue suspects and residents fear the death toll could be as high as 100.
Image from zhaoliang70 / Shutterstock.com
15 Comments
David_R59
“Uyghurs identify more closely with central Asian nations.”
Come on! Stop being so politically correct!
The Uyghurs are moslems who routinely murder any non-moslems in the cause of creating an Islamic state in Western China.
sailormac
After “overtaking” security guards…
Did you mean “overpowering”
galacticduck
There is a sense of overtake that could be correct here. “To come upon suddenly or unexpectedly.”
Marisa70394
The ethnic tension felt in the Uighur and Tibetan areas can be blamed on china which has been squelching the ancient cultures of these peoples. The CCP basically wants to eradicate all non Han chinese people in places claimed by china.
Honheree
Just Google ‘Kashgar, China’ which is in Xinjiang and click on ‘IMAGES’ , then do the same for ‘People of Xinjiang’ it is clear the majority of the residents are Uyghur or Kazakh. The only images for Han Chinese are the Police, Military or Military administrative and other leaders. However the majority of jobs and administrative posts all go to Han Chinese as in mines etc.The Han are encouraged to “colonize” this area ,as well as Inner Mongolia and Tibet with favoritism..
Between 1949 and 2008, the overall proportion of Han in Xinjiang rose dramatically, from 6.7 percent (220,000) to 40 percent (8.4 million) (Benson, 1990; SBX, 2010). This represents the LARGEST DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGE ever to occur in a major region of China since the founding of the People’s Republic (Iredale et. al., 2001).
This is happening in Tibet and has happened in Inner Mongolia where the Han population has risen from just over 5 million in 1953 to over 19.6 million in 2009. Mongolians families in the 50’s to 90’s had to have a Han soldier in each ger leading to intentional ‘assimilation and interbreeding’. The Chinese pushed the Mongolians off the land so, NOW 70% of Mongols are concentrated in less than 18% of Inner Mongolia’s territory and Mongolians are ONLY 17% of the population!
Similarly, in Tibet, the Central Tibetan Administration of the Dalai Lama accuses China of actively swamping Tibet with migrants in order to alter Tibet’s demographic makeup. The Chinese fudge their figures stating only 10 % of population are Chinese but like the other two regions the Han are favored, and encouraged to immigrate to this region with favoritism while the original residents face loss of culture, religion and ethnic destruction.
In the Tibetan rebellion in 1959 between 200,000 and 1,000,000 Tibetans were brutally killed by the Chinese and 6,000 monasteries were destroyed. The Tibetans had muskets and knives against machine guns and tanks. HOW ABOUT PROTESTING ABOUT THAT?? Any peaceful protests now in Xinjiang or Inner Mongolia and Tibet are equally, brutally put down and leaders arrested.
SO WHAT David_R59 and Raul Ramirez would you do if your homeland was invaded and all jobs, benefits etc went to the colonizing hordes. The Chinese mantra I have heard is ‘Assimilate’ or Perish.
In the American Revolution these Uyghurs who have not even muskets, only knives, would be called heroes. Just because they are Moslem, Uyghurs are called Terrorists. They are more like the Syrians who are trying to remove the Dictator Assad.
In the overall picture here, it is the Chinese who are to blame for this and other incidences. They hide behind the term ‘Terrorist’ to blind us with the reality of their transgressions. Do some research before knee jerk reactions.
rewwssfgg
Uyghur Please!
Bill Rowland
Hopefully China will wake up and realize who the true enemy is.
Phyllis
Take away Guns from Americans and this will certainly become a more frequent and preferred method for killing. Gun control is NOT the answer.
DM1499
“Uyghur separatists” = muslims.
Just like in the UK, 9 times out of 10 they will use “Asians” to describe muslims.
Nix
Keep in mind that the Chinese government is purposely moving in Han in large numbers to displace the ethnic groups in their native lands. The chinese muslims, while an odd combination, weren’t actually a problem until china made them one.
This is like a few englishman finally going nuts and using their illegal spoons to stab immigrant sandniggers because they are the only whites left in there own town and are resisting sharia law.
China is waging war and genocide on the Uyghurs, not the other way around.
bikerdogred1
Only one thing to do and that is to outlaw coal mines, will get this under control no mines then they can’t go down there with a knife a kill people.
Randall McCarroll
China hates muslims does not want them in china no mosques allowed this will cement that notion no muslims
Adam
Thank god guns are banned so these attacks/mass murders can never happen again….
Xmystic
…
rbakbike
I am an American Caucasian that lives in Xinjiang, China
near Urumqi (Wulumuqi). My wife is Han
and I have several friends that are Uyghurs or other minority Muslim. The underlying issues that garner foreign
headlines are what the Uyghur activists call Human Rights violations. They say the Muslim people, regardless of
ethnicity, are discriminated against by the government limiting their religious
activities, not allowing their children to be educated in masques, and jobs
going only to Han. Muslim families are
not subjected to the “one child” rule that Han are forced to adhere to.
The Chinese school system is very competitive as the
population is so great that there are not enough universities to allow everyone
that wishes to attend. Therefore the
college entrance exam is quite difficult.
However, Muslim students are, to some degree, given special treatment in
college entrance. Most American students
would not be able to handle the rigors of high school in China let alone score
high enough on the one time entrance exam to get into the better
universities.
I teach English at a predominantly Uyghur university. The students are like students
everywhere. Some are very concerned
about their academic career and others are not so interested in learning. The opportunities are there for those that
wish to put in the effort.
Condemning the government for not allowing Muslim children
to be educated in mosques and then complaining that all the good jobs go to Han
is naïve. The mosque education will not
be able to compete with the government run school system. Students that graduate from Chinese high
schools are in a much better position to contribute to a society in the 21st
century than anyone who has been educated in any other method in China.
The Chinese government, in several places that I have been
to in Xinjiang, has built free housing for Muslims. My Muslim friends are not restricted in their
worship services. But these friends are
productive members of society.
Most Han migration has been to the northern section of
Xinjiang keeping a non-Han majority in the southern area. Most of the non-Han migration has been to the
northern area where Han have built a thriving economy. The north area is where the best jobs are,
where the highest standard of living is.
If one wished to have a higher paying job, increase one’s living
standard and lived in the less developed south a move to the north is
enticing. But this enticement only
exists because of the diligence, drive and hard work of Han that built the
northern economic situation. If one
wishes to participate in the 21st century economy in China one has
to go through the steps necessary to play the game. That means education.
Chinese Han people have controlled the region various times
over the last 2000 years. The Uyghur
people are descendants of Turkic and perhaps other West-Eurasian peoples and
thus migrated to the area long ago.
China is the only existing nation that has a long history in the
region. Other conquerors have existed
but those empires are long gone.
The real reason for the unrest is masked by these claims of discrimination. The end goal of the few Muslims that cause
the unrest, cause the killing of innocent people is the succession of Xinjiang
to create a new state of East Turkestan.
But those few desiring this outcome are the minority and they mask their
true goal by playing on foreign media via so called rights violation to gain
sympathy.