2011 Pishan hostage crisis

Pishan hostage crisis
Pishan is located in the southwest corner of Hotan Prefecture (pictured), Xinjiang.
Location	Mukula, Pishan, Xinjiang, China
Date	December 28, 2011
Target	Goat shepherds, police
Attack type	Hostage crisis
Weapons	Knives, guns
Deaths	7 hostage-takers, 1 policeman
Non-fatal injuries	4 hostage-takers, 1 policeman

External image

Pishan crisis police casualty

The Pishan hostage crisis was a fatal incident that occurred on the night of December 28, 2011, in Pishan County, Xinjiang, China. A group of 15 Uyghur youths crossing the border into Pakistan for jihadist training kidnapped two goat shepherds for directions. They were soon confronted a group of five Pishan policemen, who tried to negotiate for the shepherds' release. The group attacked the policemen with knives, killing one and injuring another. The police shot back, killing seven hostage-takers, wounding and capturing four, freeing the two shepherds. The Xinjiang government called the kidnappers "violent terrorists", while an Uyghur exile group claimed the kidnappers' actions were the result of "police repression".

Pishan County is one of the poorest counties in the Xinjiang region, on the southern edge of the Taklamakan Desert bordering Pakistan's Azad Kashmir. An oasis county, its people are predominantly cotton-growers.Han Chinese account for less than 2% of the population of Pishan. Residents of Pishan told Xinhua that a new spirit of extremism was damaging organized Uyghur life. Earlier in the month, religious extremists kidnapped and murdered an Uyghur man for drinking alcohol, which is prohibited in Islam. Store-owners in Pishan who sell alcoholic drinks and cigarettes said that they feared retaliation by extremists.

The ethnic Uyghur-dominated southern part of Xinjiang has witnessed increasing separatist violence by Uyghurs who want to establish an independent state. On April 18 and 21, there were two fatal incidents of Uyghurs stabbing Han Chinese in the city of Kashgar. In July, an Uyghur mob took over a police station, threatened hostages, and battled police in a standoff that would ultimately end in 18 deaths. In that same month, a group of Pakistan-trained Uyghur youths killed 14 people in a vehicular, IED and knife attack in Kashgar.