At least 100 Muslims from the Chinese Uighur minority have fled the country to join a jihadi group mainly active in Syria and Iraq, a Chinese official said.
“Three of them had fled China after being implicated in terrorist activities”, added the official.
Before being arrested by Thailand’s security forces, the illegal immigrants were heading to Turkey, where they supposed to join the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
The self-proclaimed Islamic State is engaged in fierce fighting with Syrian Arab Army (SAA), Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) as well as other Syrian rebel groups in order to expand its de facto state.
Subsequently, China accused Turkey of providing fake passports to the Uighurs willing to join the terror group in Syria and Iraq.
The Uighurs are a Turkic ethnic group living the region of Xinjiang in western China. The Muslim minority group retains troubled relations with the Chinese authorities, accusing them of religious and cultural suppression.
Several months back Chinese authorities detained a number of people in Shanghai on charges they were providing Turkish documentation to Uighurs hoping to leave the country.
Ethnic violence erupted earlier in Xinjiang has left hundreds of people dead and wounded.
Several Chinese Uighur members have allegedly joined ISIS. In last February, ISIS executed three of its fighters (from the Chinese Uighur community) for desertion.
