32 terror groups busted in Xinjiang

A total of 32 gangs were busted; over 380 suspects apprehended; and 315 people convicted in the first month of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region anti-terror campaign.
The campaign was launched after the May 22 bombing of a market in the regional capital Urumqi that killed 39 people.
Public security departments seized 264 explosive devices, 3.15 tonnes of explosives and 357 controlled knives, Wang Qianrong, deputy head of the regional public security department, told a news briefing.
The police confiscated about 100 computers and 1,700 books on terrorism and religious extremism during raids on 21 illegal preaching sites and training camps, Wang said.
Six police officers died in the line of duty over the past month.
Courts in Xinjiang convicted 315 people involved in 120 cases, of terrorist attacks, religious extremism, manufacturing of guns and explosives, spreading of terrorist propaganda, and illegally crossing international borders.
Last Monday, thirteen people were executed for organizing, leading and participating in terrorist groups; murder; arson; theft; and illegal manufacture, storage and transportation of explosives,in Aksu, Turpan and Hotan. On the same day, three people were sentenced to death by Urumqi Intermediate People's Court for an attack in Beijing's Tian'anmen Square in October 2013.
Wang said that Xinjiang people from all ethnic groups had joined forces with the government and police to fight terrorism. Police have received more than 400 tipoffs, based on which 12 terrorist and extremist groups were identified and more than 80 suspects taken into custody.
In a typical case, on May 29, a person making a suspicious purchase in Aksu quickly drove off after being asked to register his name. He was captured by the local police on the basis of witness reports of his strange behavior and, through interrogation, the police found his link to a terror cell and seized another three suspects.
Data from the regional public security shows that 96 percent of terror cases were identified and thwarted at the planning stage.
Local authorities have tightened supervision of second-hand mobile phone, auto and computer sales..