Video footage shows grim situation before Xinjiang terrorism crackdown

Rare video footage of terrorist attacks in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and other parts of China made public on Monday revealed the grim situation before the spread of terrorism and religious extremism was successfully contained.

During an online news conference on Xinjiang-related issues, the regional government showed video footage and accounts of witnesses and victims' relatives of 52 typical violent and terrorist cases from the 1990s to 2014. They were only a very small number of the thousands of incidents carried out by extremists, separatists and terrorists at home and abroad.

Some of the bloody and violent footage was released for the first time.

It showed that many attackers from Xinjiang were influenced by religious extremism and backed by overseas terrorist groups, and that such attacks had started to spread to other parts of China and even abroad.

The rare footage includes Usman Asan－a key organizer of a terrorist attack carried out in Tian'anmen Square in Beijing in 2013－conducting training in Xinjiang.

On Oct 28, a four-wheel-drive vehicle plowed through a group of pedestrians before crashing into a guardrail at Jinshui Bridge at noon. The vehicle was then set on fire from inside. Two innocent people and three attackers, including Usman, were killed in the high-profile attack.

Under the influence of religious extremism, Usman was seen vowing to let the flag of jihad, or holy war, fly in Tian'anmen Square. He had also recorded the burning of the national flags of China, the United States, the United Kingdom and other countries as insults.

Scenes of a group of extremists from Xinjiang firing at Vietnamese armed police on April 18, 2014, after they failed to cross the border between China and Vietnam at Fangchenggang port were also made public for the first time. Several people were killed and injured in the attack.

Memattoht Mamatrozi, who planned to illegally cross the border with others via the port in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, was seen threatening to kill nonbelievers with a stolen submachine gun after he was stopped by Vietnamese border control officers. He committed suicide after being surrounded.

According to police investigations, the group planned to carry out jihad overseas, and decided to launch the attack after they were caught.

"It's clearer than ever who are the ones committing crimes against humanity," Xu Guixiang, a regional government spokesman, said at the news conference. "The anti-China forces have been labeling Xinjiang's efforts to fight terrorism and religious extremism as actions to conduct genocide. Such a move is ill-intended and despicable."

At the news conference, 13 witnesses of the terrorist attacks and relatives of the victims shared how they were scared for their lives because of the violent incidents and how much they cherish living a peaceful life.

Xu said there have been no terrorist incidents in Xinjiang for five years, and criminal and public security cases have declined significantly.

"People of all ethnic groups have a much higher sense of security," he said. "Their longing for peace and stability for many years has been granted."