Uygur militant’s support for Kunming knife attack ‘proof of China’s terror threat’

A Uygur militant leaders support of an attack this month in China in which 29 people were knifed to death is clear proof that the world should support China’s fight against terror, the foreign ministry said on Wednesday.

Beijing blamed the stabbings at a train station in the southwestern city of Kunming on extremists from China’s far western region of Xinjiang, home to the Muslim Uygur people.

Abdullah Mansour, leader of the rebel Turkestan Islamic Party, called the March 1 attack an “expensive offer” for China to reconsider its “cruel” policies in Xinjiang, the SITE monitoring service said late on Tuesday, citing a video by the group.

“If the fighters of East Turkestan are now fighting with swords, knives, and mallets, our dear Allah will soon give us opportunities to fight the Chinese using automatic guns,” Mansour said.

“Know that blood of those who are killing themselves is not being spilled for nothing, for their blood will bring tens of more to carry out jihad.”

China says it faces a serious threat from armed groups who seek to establish an independent state called East Turkestan, and has reacted with anger to suggestions its policies are to blame for stoking Uygur resentment and violence.

Mansour said this month that his fighters were gearing up for retribution against China.