2007 Xinjiang raid

{{Short description|Chinese military operation during the Xinjiang conflict}}

{{Infobox military conflict

|image=Location of Akto within Xinjiang (China).png

|partof=the Xinjiang conflict

|caption=Location of Akto County in Xinjiang, China

|conflict=Xinjiang raid

|date=January 5, 2007

|place=Xinjiang, People's Republic of China

|result=Chinese victory

|combatant1=20px People's Republic of China

• People's Armed Police

|combatant2= 20px East Turkestan Islamic Movement

|commander1=Ba Yan

|commander2=Unknown

|casualties1=1 killed
1 wounded

|casualties2=18 killed
17 captured

}}

{{Campaignbox Xinjiang conflict}}

The January 2007 Xinjiang raid was carried out on January 5, 2007, by Chinese paramilitary police against a suspected East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) training camp in Akto County in the Pamir plateau.

A spokesperson for the Xinjiang Public Security Department said that 18 terror suspects were killed and 17 captured. Those captured were either sentenced to death or life imprisonment.{{cite journal |last1=Wayne |first1=Martin |date=2007 |title=Five Lessons from China's War on Terror |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A183044531/PPWT |journal=Joint Force Quarterly |issue=47 |pages=42 |access-date=24 February 2023}} The raid also resulted in the death of one Chinese paramilitary officer, Huang Qiang, age 21, and the injury of another officer. Authorities confiscated hand grenades, guns, and makeshift explosives from the site.{{Cite web|url=http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=38523|title=UN urged to probe killing of Chinese Muslims|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080220210228/http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=38523|date=January 11, 2007|archive-date=February 20, 2008|website=The News|url-status=dead}}{{Cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6241073.stm|title=China 'anti-terror' raid kills 18|website=BBC News|date=8 January 2007}} ETIM is classified by the United Nations as a terrorist organization.{{Cite web|url=https://jamestown.org/program/al-qaeda-and-islamic-state-reinvigorating-east-turkistan-jihad/|title=Al-Qaeda and Islamic State Reinvigorating East Turkistan Jihad|last=Roul|first=Animesh|date=May 17, 2019|website=Jamestown|language=en-US|access-date=2019-08-21}}{{Cite book|title=China's Spatial (Dis)integration: Political Economy of the Interethnic Unrest in Xinjiang|last=Guo|first=Rongxing|date=2015|publisher=Chandos Publishing|isbn=9780081003879|location=Waltham, MA|pages=46}}

In reaction, many exiled Uyghur leaders quickly questioned the motives behind the raid. Rebiya Kadeer, a Uyghur human rights activist, called for an independent UN investigation into the raid, while Alim Seytoff, executive chairman of the World Uighur Congress, claimed the Chinese government has yet to produce evidence to substantiate the camp's connections to terrorism. In response, Zhao Yongchen, vice head of the Xinjiang counterterrorism forces, reiterated the reality of the camp's terrorist threat.{{Cite web|url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2007/01/10/2003344141|title=China crushes Xinjiang 'terror camp'|website=Taipei Times|date=January 10, 2007}}{{Cite web|url=http://blogs.lavanguardia.com/pekin-poch/un-incidente-en-el-pamir|title=Un incidente en el Pamir|website=La Vanguardia|first=Rafael|last=Poch|date=June 20, 2007|language=es}}