East Turkestan Islamic Movement
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East Turkestan Islamic Movement is a militant Islamic group which seeks to separate East Turkestan from the People's Republic of China. It is considered by both the governments of the PRC and the United States to be a terrorist group. Its designation as such by the United States has been controversial with critics arguing that the designation is unfair and intended mainly to improve U.S.-China relations. In 2002, the United Nations also declared it to be a terrorist group.
The government of China claims this group is responsible for several car bomb attacks in Xinjiang in the 1990s, as well as the death of a Chinese diplomat in Kyrgyzstan in 2002. But the group has neither admitted nor denied such accusations. Several arrested members of the group admitted, however, that they were trained by Al-Qaida in Afghanistan.
On October 2, 2003, one of the founding members and leaders of the group was shot dead by the Pakistan army in a counter terrorism operation on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
See also: Politics of Chinaja:東トルキスタンイスラム運動 zh-cn:东突厥斯坦伊斯兰运动