April 2013 Bachu unrest

April 2013 Bachu unrest
Location	Selibuya, Bachu, Xinjiang, China
Date	24 April 2013 (2013-04-24)
Attack type	Knife attack, Fire attack
Deaths	21 in total 15 community workers and police officers [1]
Suspected perpetrators	East Turkestan Islamic Movement

On 24 April 2013, ethnic clashes occurred in Bachu (Marelbexi) County, Xinjiang, China. The violence left at least 21 people dead, including 15 police and officials.^[1][2][3][4]

Background

The Muslim-majority region of Xinjiang has frequently had flare-ups of violence in the last decades. Advocates of an independent East Turkestan from the East Turkestan Independence Movement have been vocal in their demands for more rights for the indigenous people. In 1997, violence erupting as the Ghulja Incident. Later, there were the 2008 Uyghur unrest and July 2009 Ürümqi riots.

April 2013 violence

On 24 April 2013, deadly clashes broke out between policemen and ethnic Uyghur suspected terrorists, which according to state officials began when three local government officials reported a suspicious group of individuals armed with knives, outside a home in the Selibuya township located outside the city of Kashgar.^[5] While the group was in process of reporting this to their superiors, they were apprehended by the armed men hiding inside the home, killing the three unarmed officials. Afterwards policemen and community cadres at the local police station were informed by the workers' earlier reports and went to handle the matter.^[6]

According to Chinese state media, when the policemen arrived to investigate the situation some being unarmed, they were viciously attacked by the armed men, killing three police officers and three of the attackers. Then nine policemen cornered in the assailants house, which was set on fire, referred to as a "planned terrorist attack" against innocent victims. According to a report filed about incident, eleven of the deceased officials and policemen were ethnic Uyghurs, while the remaining four were Han Chinese. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesmen Hua Chunying, said initial police investigations showed it had been a "premeditated attack carried out by a violent terrorists [sic] organization". Following the clashes, eight ethnic Uyghur men were detained by authorities on cases of terrorism committed against the state.

As a result of the violence 21 people died, including policemen and social workers.^[5]

Trial

Nineteen members of an unnamed extremist group were arrested. Its alleged leader, Musa Hesen, was sentenced to death, along with Rehman Hupur after a one-day trial in Kashgar on 12 August for murder, forming and leading a terrorist organisation and illegally manufacturing explosives. Three others were sentenced to prison sentences ranging from nine years to life.^[7]

Aftermath

After two months, on 26 June, 27 people were killed in riots, 17 of them were killed in the violence, while the other 10 people were shot dead by police in the township of Lukqun.^{[8][9][10][11][12][13][14]}

References