CHINA-INDONESIA: UYGHUR/TERRORISM

 Saud Usman Nasution, head of Indonesia's National Counter-Terrorism Agency told Reuters in an interview on January 6, 2016, that several Uighurs had responded to a call last year by Santoso, Indonesia's most high-profile backer of Islamic State, to join his band of fighters and that Islamic State and human trafficking networks helped them travel via Myanmar, Thailand and Malaysia to Santoso's hideout in an equatorial jungle of eastern Indonesia. He disclosed "We are cooperating with China and investigating evidence such as ATM cards and cellphones" adding that an Indonesian team had visited China.There was no immediate comment from China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) whether Beijing is collaborating with Indonesia. Saud Usman Nasution's comments came amid mounting concern in Indonesia about possible attacks by sympathizers of the Islamic State group and follows the arrest of 13 men across the island of Java, including a Muslim Uighur with a suicide-bomb vest. The appearance among Indonesian militant networks of Uighurs, who come from the Xinjiang region in far-western China, is likely to add to Beijing's concerns that exiles will return to their homeland as experienced and trained jihadists.

 






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