Authorities in China's western region of Xinjiang on Tuesday offered leniency to "separatists, terrorists and religious extremists" who turn themselves in, the latest in a string of recent security measures in the violence-prone region. China says militants have stirred up tension in Xinjiang, where hundreds of people have been killed in recent years in unrest between mostly Muslim ethnic Uighurs and majority Han Chinese. Officials say they face a determined campaign by separatists who want to set up an independent state called East Turkestan. But individual have to turn themselves in to authorities, however. Late last month, Uighurs purportedly fighting with the Islamic State in Iraq released a video threatening China and vowing to shed Chinese blood.

Source: Egypt Independent March 14, 2017 12:33 UTC