Britain lists East Turkistan Islamic Movement as proscribed terrorist

LONDON - The British Home Office has listed the East Turkistan Islamic Movement as an Islamic terrorist and separatist organization.

Britain's latest list of proscribed terrorist organizations, published Friday by the Home Office, has officially proscribed the terrorist group Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP), also known as the East Turkistan Islamic Party, East Turkistan Islamic Movement or Hizb al-Islami al-Turkistani.

"TIP is an Islamic terrorist and separatist organization founded in 1989 by Uygur militants in western China," the Home Office says in the official document.

TIP aims to establish an independent caliphate in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China and to name it East Turkistan, says the document.

It is based in Pakistan and operates in China, Central Asia, South Asia and Syria, says the document. "The group has claimed responsibility for a number of attacks in China, the latest of these being in April 2014. TIP has links to a number of terrorist groups, including al-Qaida."

In November 2015, TIP released the 18th issue of its magazine Islamic Turkistan through the Global Islamic Media Front, detailing TIP's jihad against the Chinese authorities, says the document.

"Video footage from September 2015 shows TIP hosting training camps in areas controlled by the Pakistani Taliban in North Waziristan," it says.

"More recently TIP has maintained an active and visible presence in the Syrian war and has published a number of video clips of its activities."

Examples of TIP involvement in Syria from March to April 2016 include TIP claiming a joint attack with Jund al-Aqsa in Sahl al-Ghab and publishing a video of a suicide bomb attack in April 2016.

A video published by the terrorist group in March 2016 promotes the victories of TIP in Syria and calls for Muslims to join jihad; and a video slide show published in April 2016 shows fighters and children in training, the Home Office file says.

"TIP has been banned by the UN and is also sanctioned by the USA under the Terrorist Exclusion list," it notes.