China executes 13 for terror, violent crimes in Xinjiang

In this May 23, 2014 photo, armed paramilitary policemen ride on a truck during an anti-terrorism oath-taking rally at the Grand Bazaar in Urumqi, in northwestern China’s Xinjiang region. The slogan banner on the truck reads: “It is fortune to be harmonious and stable, it is misfortune to split and sabotage.” Chinese state media issued details Friday, June 6, 2014, on 81 people sentenced on terror-related charges – nine of them to death – saying the bulk had belonged to terrorist organizations and committed murder and other violent crimes. (AP Photo)

BEIJING – Chinese authorities executed 13 people on Monday for “terrorist attacks and violent crimes” in the violence-wracked northwestern region of Xinjiang, state media said.

The announcement by Xinhua news agency said the 13 were involved in seven different cases connected to Xinjiang, home to militants from the mainly Muslim Uighur ethnic group blamed by Beijing for a string of attacks that have rocked China in recent months.

“In one case, three defendants were convicted of organizing and leading terrorists to attack police station, hotel, government office building and other venues, killing 24 police officers and civilians and injuring 23 others at Lukqun Township in Shanshan County of Turpan Prefecture on June 26 last year,” Xinhua said.

The announcement came hours after state media announced that three people had been sentenced to death over a suicide car crash in Beijing’s symbolic heart Tiananmen Square, in the government’s latest move against Xinjiang militants.

One other person was given life in prison for the “violent terrorist attack” that killed two tourists last October, said state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV), citing the Intermediate People’s Court in Xinjiang’s capital Urumqi.