The Uighur emergence began on March 1 when a group of attackers wielding knives stormed a train station in southern China and stabbed to death<\/a> 29 people, injuring at least 140 more. It was a rare occurrence in China: a \u201cpremeditated violent terrorist attack,\u201d as the government-run Xinhua News Agency described it, pinning responsibility <\/a>on Uighur separatists.<\/p>\n Then late last week, five more Chinese were stabbed to death in another knife fight that involved Uighurs<\/a>, further rattling a nation still skittish from the March 1 attack.<\/p>\n At the same time, one of the leading Malaysian newspapers, the Harian Metro, reported that police were paying \u201cspecial attention\u201d<\/a> to a 35-year-old Uighur passenger who it claimed had once undergone flight simulation training. The report, which the government declined to confirm, said the Uighur had gone to a British university and learned how to fly on a simulator in Sweden around 2006.<\/p>\n Afterward, according to Australia\u2019s News.com<\/a>, people purporting to represent the Uighur separatist movement hammered journalists with e-mails. They claimed to be behind the airplane\u2019s disappearance \u2014 an assertion News.com dismissed as \u201copportunistic.\u201d<\/p>\n Over the weekend, however, additional claims surfaced that had more credence. Ensconced in a secluded mountain base straddling Pakistan\u2019s border with Afghanistan, the Uighur leader of the Turkestan Islamic Party vowed to Reuters<\/a> that there would be more terror attacks. \u201cChina is not only our enemy, but it is the enemy of all Muslims,\u201d Abdullah Mansour said. \u201cWe have plans for many attacks in China. We have a message to China that East Turkestan people and other Muslims have woken up. They cannot suppress us and Islam any more. Muslims will take revenge.\u201d<\/p>\n Who are the Uighurs? And why are they so angry?<\/p>\n The genesis of their animosity lies in regional, historical, and cultural differences with the Chinese government. Their home province, Xinjiang, has been under the yoke of the Communist party since 1949, when it took control of the country. Because of the linguistic and geographic divide \u2014 Xinjiang is 1,500 miles from Beijing \u2014 the Muslim minority has long chafed under China\u2019s autocratic rule.<\/p>\n China keeps a tight watch on the country\u2019s religious groups, and some Muslim Uighurs have called for secession to found a nation called \u201cEast Turkestan.\u201d<\/a> \u201cChinese authorities continue to place curbs on Muslims\u2019 ability to practice their religion,\u201d a 2013 U.S. Congressional report states.<\/a> Uighur groups were \u201cwarned against going on Hajj pilgrimages not organized by the government.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"The](\"http:\/\/docs.uyghuramerican.org\/images\/w-uighurMAP.jpg\")
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