Three Chinese nationals executed by Islamic State in Iraq

By Ryan Kilpatrick, February 6, 2015

An Iraqi security official has revealed to the press that a mass execution of "deserters" conducted in mid-2014 by the Islamic State militant group included three Chinese citizens.

The three PRC nationals were amongst 117 other IS militants killed for attempting to leave the jihadist rebel group. All three men are believed to have been members of the East Turkestan Liberation Organization (ETLO), a secessionist Uyghur group that advocates an independent state called "East Turkestan" in the far-western Chinese territory of Xinjiang. It is not known if they were killed by firing squad or beheading.

ETLO is designated a terrorist organization by Shanghai Cooperation Organization members China, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan; unlike the more active East Turkestan Islamic Movement, however, ETLO is not considered a terrorist group by either the United Nations or United States.

The presence of Chinese radicals in IS has been increasing steadily since August last year, when IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi told followers that the Islamic State's ultimate goals include expansion into Xinjiang, and asked all Chinese Muslims to "pledge allegiance" to him.

In September, four Chinese men with ties to the group were arrested in Indonesia, and in the same month an ethnically Chinese man was reportedly captured fighting with IS in Iraq. In December last year, Chinese state media claimed that there were "around 300 Chinese extremists" fighting for the Islamic State in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.

Just last month, however, officials in Beijing admitted that hundreds of Chinese citizens had attempted to steal across the border into Vietnam illegally in the past year alone - the majority of whom reportedly left in order to attend "jihad training" camps in other countries.

According to a Chinese counter-terrorism expert quoted by Hong Kong's Wen Wei Po, Chinese recruits are often led to believe that IS is in possession of huge oil fields, and that after fighting with them they will be given a wife and be able to return home with vast sums of money - only to find that they're "discriminated against" by other IS members, treated as "human bullets," and unceremoniously killed if they attempt to leave.

[Image via CNR]