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January 22, 2002
BEIJING -- China stepped up efforts Monday to win acceptance of its fight with Muslim separatists in its northwest, issuing a report accusing one group of being part of Osama bin Laden's terror network and of getting weapons and money from him.
The report was the most explicit Chinese claim yet linking bin Laden and separatists in the northwestern Muslim region of Xinjiang, also known as East Turkestan. It singled out the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, which it said coordinated action with bin Laden and sent him fighters for training.
"The "East Turkestan' terrorist organization ... has the unstinting support of bin Laden, and is an important part of his terrorist forces," said the report issued by the press office of China's cabinet.
The report didn't offer any evidence to support its claims.
China has tried to portray opponents of Chinese rule in Xinjiang as part of the global terror threat being fought by the U.S.-led coalition. Washington has rebuffed the claim, calling instead for a political settlement in the region.
The report Monday came two weeks after a six-nation group led by China and Russia agreed to cooperate more closely in fighting Muslim separatism and extremism, including stepping up work on creating a regional counterterrorism center.
The Chinese report contended that separatist violence in Xinjiang was part of an international Muslim extremist plot to overthrow Chinese rule and install a theocratic "Islam state" in the region.
It said bin Laden had coordinated activities of Xinjiang separatists with the former Taliban rulers of Afghanistan and Islamic extremists in Uzbekistan.
OKLAHOMA CITY -- One of the Sept. 11 hijackers got a speeding ticket in Oklahoma last spring, and it may be used as evidence against Zacarias Moussaoui, the former Oklahoma resident arrested shortly before the attacks.
Five months before the attacks, Highway Patrol Trooper C.L. Parkins stopped Nawaf al-Hazmi, believed to be one of the hijackers of the airliner that hit the Pentagon. He was ticketed for speeding and not wearing a seat belt. He later paid a fine.
Those tickets became clues for the FBI, the Sunday Oklahoman reported in a copyright story.
The tickets were issued during the time Moussaoui was living in Norman -- Feb. 26 to May 29. Moussaoui attended the Airman Flight School there but did not receive his pilot's license. He was detained in August on immigration violations after raising an instructor's suspicions at another flight school, in Minnesota.
The indictment against Moussaoui, 33, does not explain why al-Hazmi, 25, was in Oklahoma during that time.
"I think the inference they were trying to draw was he was in Oklahoma; Moussaoui was in Oklahoma at the same time," said Bob Ricks, commissioner of the Department of Public Safety.
MANILA, Philippines -- A man was arrested in the southern Philippines Monday for allegedly belonging to an al-Qaida-linked group accused of plotting terror attacks in Southeast Asia.
Mohammad Kiram was arrested in the predominantly Muslim city of Marawi, the latest of five suspected members of Jemaah Islamiyah to be arrested in the Philippines.
The Muslim extremist group is accused of planning attacks on Western embassies and the U.S. military in Singapore with the help of cells in Indonesia and Malaysia as well as the Philippines.