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UNDERGROUND FIREARMS SHOP FOUND NEAR ARTUSH
East Turkistan Information
Center
September 29, 2002
On September 15 in Langar district of the village of
Azaq near the city of Artush, the Chinese police
discovered an underground firearms shop run by young
men of Uighur nationality.
Police found a ventilation pipe sticking out of ground
near an animal feeder in a sheep barn. Hundreds of
handmade guns and hand grenades were found in the
underground shop with the entrance hidden under a
large pile of trash. The firing power of their
firearms is estimated
to be at about 80% of similar arms manufactured at
defense military plants.
The firearms shop was established by a group of Uighur
guerrillas under the leadership of a person named
Kurbanjan. A group of men was arrested on spot
including Kurbanjan who managed to escape from police
shortly after during transportation. He is still at
large.
Following up this incident, the Chinese military
detained a large group of Uighurs from Langar and
several other surrounding villages. A person named
Yasin Qari is among those detained.
Kurbanjan was arrested first time in 1994, and since
then he was engaged in armed resistance against the
Chinese rule. Prior to the present incident, Kurbanjan
managed escape from prison three times; and once,
along with a group of political prisoners.
According to the available information, Kurbanjan has
never been abroad and has never had contacts with
foreigners. Nevertheless, the Chinese government uses
every incident, including this one, to portray the
homegrown Uighur resistance movement as examples of
the
international terrorism on the "Chinese soil". Any
Uighur involved in an armed incident on the territory
of East Turkistan is accused by the Chinese government
in "having links to the international terrorism".
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