Militants trying to cross border to join jihadi forces: China

Claiming major success against Islamic militants in Xinjiang province bordering Pakistan Occupied Kashmir and Afghanistan, Chinese security officials today said some of the militants are trying to cross the borders to join jihadi groups.
The "three evil forces" of separatism, extremism and terrorism have long been using mobile phones and the internet to incite terrorist attacks in China, an anti terrorist official in Xinjiang told state-run Xinhua news agency.
Some terrorist group members have even sought to cross the border to join groups seeking jihad overseas, he said without elaborating.
Chinese officials in the past said that militants of East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) active in Xinjiang of undergoing training in Pakistan militant training camps.

Ye Hailin, an anti-terrorist expert from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that although the overall situation in Xinjiang is stable, the region still faces severe challenges in fighting terrorism.
China could strengthen cooperation with countries including Pakistan and Afghanistan to crack down on overseas terrorist groups, while on the domestic front, the authorities should improve in the fields of religion, the economy and people's livelihoods to curb terrorist activities, Ye told Xinhua.
Xijiang is experiencing ethnic unrest between Uygurs and Han Chinese for the past several years. China has deployed large number of its forces to contain the violence.

Meanwhile, officials in Xinjiang claimed to have foiled more than 96 per cent of planned separatist and terrorist activities.