23 terror, religious extremist groups busted in China

As many as 23 terror and religious extremist groups have been busted and over 200 suspects arrested in China's Xinjiang Uygur region in May, security authorities said Sunday.

The groups were busted by police in Xinjiang's Hotan, Kashgar and Aksu prefectures, where the majority of the population are Muslim Uygurs, Xinhua quoted the regional public security department as saying.

Over 200 explosive devices were also seized in the police raids.

Many of the suspects were in their 20s and 30s, who would watch terror video and audio through the Internet and electric storages and learned how to make explosives.

They exchanged their experiences of making explosives and propagating Jehad through chatting tools, text messages and illegal preaching sites, authorities said.