¡¡¡¡ BEIJING, Sept. 12 (Xinhuanet) -- The East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) was wholly a terrorist organization with links to al-Qaida, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan told a regular press conference in Beijing on Thursday.

¡¡¡¡Kong said ETIM, which had other names such as the "East Turkistan Islamic Party of Allah" or the "East Turkistan Islamic Party," was the most dangerous among all East Turkistan terrorist forces.

¡¡¡¡ETIM aimed to split the country through terrorist activities and establish the so-called "East Turkistan Islamic State" in China's Xinjiang Ugyur Autonomous Region, he said.

¡¡¡¡ETIM had set up terrorist training bases outside Chinese territory, and dispatched terrorists to sneak into China for planning, instructing and conducting terrorist activities, he said.

¡¡¡¡ ¡¡¡¡Kong revealed two examples of ETIM's terrorist activities. It was responsible for a warehouse explosion incident in Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang in May, 1998, and another big explosion in Hotan, also in Xinjiang in March, 1999.

¡¡¡¡According to Chinese police statistics, the explosions, assassinations and other terrorist crimes committed by ETIM have resulted in the deaths of 166 people and 440 injured people.

¡¡¡¡Chinese police have damaged 44 ETIM bases and confiscated a substantial amount of weapons and ammunition, including 4,500 grenades.

¡¡¡¡According to Kong, ETIM has close links with the Osama Bin Laden-controlled al-Qaida terrorist organization. ETIM had once sent people for training with al-Qaida then dispatched them back to China for terrorist activities, Kong said. Enditem