An increase in security around the Muslim northwest of China has been announced by authorities after a recent bombing incident
43 people were killed in a bomb blast at a vegetable market in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang region.
Police have announced that the attack was conducted by five members of a terrorist gang. Police also said that on the basis of their names the five attackers appeared to be part of the Uighurs, the largest Muslim minority in China. Four of the attackers were killed in the bomb blast and the fifth was taken into custody on Thursday.
The new anti- terrorism campaign will be centered on the Xinjiang area and will work on ousting extremist groups, terrorist training camps and underground gun workshops.
According to Ahmed A.S Hashim, a terrorism expert at Nanyang Technical University, Singapore, the increased security might cause a backlash against the government, giving rise to sympathy for the Muslims in Xinjiang.
He also added that al-Qaeda and other groups of similar persuasions have are already beginning to wonder if China will be a new oppressor in the Muslim world.
