China's Uygurs go overseas to train for jihad at home, Beijing says

Uygurs from Xinjiang who have travelled to Turkey via Southeast Asia are being trained in Syria and Iraq with the aim of bringing jihad back to China, the foreign ministry said on Thursday.

Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Uygurs, a largely Muslim ethnic minority that calls Xinjiang home, have left China in recent years.

Rights groups say such migrants are mostly fleeing ethnic violence in Xinjiang and controls on their religion and culture. Hundreds of people have died in unrest in Xinjiang in the last three years, blamed by Beijing on Islamist militants.

The foreign ministry said the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), a group that Beijing says seeks an independent state in Xinjiang, found followers from the region to send for training in the Middle East with the intent of returning for jihad.

"Terrorist extremists from within China's borders are recruited to illegally exit the country. Through Southeast Asian countries, they go to Turkey and from there head to the so-called holy wars in Syria and Iraq, receive terrorist training and bide their time to return," the foreign ministry said.

"This not only seriously damages China's national security, but is also a threat to the security and stability of other relevant countries and regions."