BEIJING: Islamic State (IS) militants from China’s Uighur ethnic minority vowed to return home and ‘shed blood like rivers’, according to a militant-tracking firm.
It is the first threat made by the terrorist group to Chinese targets.
The threat came in a half-hour video released Monday by a division of the IS featuring militants from China’s Uighur ethnic group, said the US-based SITE Intelligence Group.
China has for years blamed exiled Uighur ‘separatists’ for a series of violent attacks in its western Xinjiang region — the Uighur homeland — and warned of the potential for militants to link up with global jihadist groups.
In the video, a Uighur fighter issued the threat against China just before executing an alleged informant.
“Oh, you Chinese who do not understand what people say! We are the soldiers of the Caliphate, and we will come to you to clarify to you with the tongues of our weapons, to shed blood like rivers and avenging the oppressed,” according to SITE’s translation.
Many Uighurs complain of cultural and religious repression and discrimination by China.
