A previously little known group calling itself the Turkestan Islamic Party claims it carried out several fatal bombings in the country in recent months. The group's self-described military commander, Seyfullah, said it was responsible for incidents in Shanghai in early May and in the southern city of Kunming on July 21 that killed a total of five people.
The three minute video, which was obtained under unspecified circumstances by the Intelcenter, a Washington D.C. company that specializes in collecting counter terrorism information, was greeted with skepticism both in and out of China. Police in Shanghai and Kunming said the blasts weren't related to opposition to Chinese rule by ethnic Uighur Muslims in the country's far western province of Xinjiang. Police in Guangdong province also said they had no record of an explosion on the date mentioned in the video.
"My hunch is that this is a media driven operation, " says Nicholas Bequelin, chief China researcher for New York-based Human Rights Watch. "The goal is to help it to recruit people to the cause or attract attention" at a time when the eyes of the world are focused on China. "I don't think they seriously are claiming responsibility." Says terrorism expert Rohan Gunaratna, "The threat is to change the mood rather than to mount an attack in the Olympic Venue. However, attacks elswhere, small to medium, are likely in the lead up and during the event." Becquelin, who wrote his Ph D. dissertation about the situation in Xinjiang, said the group had released several videos previously, but "they've never presented any evidence that they are operational."