Other Definitions
east turkestan islamic movement (dict)
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East Turkestan Islamic MovementEast Turkestan Islamic Movement is a militant Islamic group which seeks to separate East Turkestan from the People's Republic of China. It is considered by both the governments of the PRC and the United States to be a terrorist group. Its designation as such by the United States has been controversial with critics arguing that the designation is unfair and intended mainly to improve U.S.-China relations. In 2002, the United Nations also announced that this is a terrorist group. The government of China claims this group is responsible for several car bomb attacks in Xinjiang in the 1990s, as well as the death of a Chinese diplomat in Kyrgyzstan in 2002. But the group has neither admitted nor denied such accusations. Several arrested members of the group admitted, however, that they were trained by Al-Qaida in Afghanistan. On October 2, 2003, one of the founding memembers and leaders of the group was shot dead by the Pakistan army in an counter terrorism operation on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. See also: Politics of China
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