China: 11 'terrorists' killed in restive Xinjiang region; suspect captured

[Scott]

China: 11 'terrorists' killed in restive Xinjiang region; suspect captured

(CNN) -- Eleven "terrorists" were killed -- eight by police, and three by their own suicide bomb -- in a terrorist attack Friday in northwest China's restive Xinjiang region, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Police captured a suspect in the attack, Xinhua reported, citing police.

Armed with explosives and knives, the assailants were riding motorbikes and driving cars and attacked a team of police on patrol about 4 p.m. local time, state media said, quoting police.

CNN

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/02/14/world/asia/china-xinjiang-violence/index.html?hpt=ias_c2

[Steely Dan]

Why the inverted commas round 'terrorist'? Is there any doubt that the dead were indeed terrorists, especially those killed by their own suicide bomb.

[Scott]

I have no idea why the inverted commas. Maybe somebody thinks they are 'freedom fighters'.

[boomerangutang]

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Why the inverted commas round 'terrorist'? Is there any doubt that the dead were indeed terrorists, especially those killed by their own suicide bomb.

Answer: because Chinese hyper-paranoid Politburo is quick to brand any group that doesn't toe the official Beijing line, as 'terrorists.'

They also brand any Tibetan carrying a wallet photo of the Dalai Lama as a 'terrorist.'

Desperate situations call for desperate actions. There has never been a referendum (probably; never a real election of any kind) in Xinjiang - enabling the residents there to express themselves politically. The sooner Beijing implodes, the sooner disenfranchised outlying entities can go about governing themselves, instead of being controlled by a small cadre of humorless iron-fisted old men, thousands of miles away.