The Uighurs detained in Guantanamo were found to have received military training in Afghanistan according to Pentagon reports. While they feigned ignorance and denied terrorist links, it is highly suspicious Uighur separatists have connections with Taliban and Al Qaeda. The main target could be China, but the US may not escape terrorist attacks. US State department previously confirmed that East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) received funding and training from Osama bin Laden's terrorist organisations and plotted to attack US embassies and personnel.
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He found his way to the camp in Tora Bora, run by Hasan Mahsum, a well-known separatist leader believed to have founded the radical East Turkestan Islamic Movement.
At the camp, the Uighurs read the Koran and trained to use Kalashnikov rifles, the men told their tribunals.
But they insisted that the camp was funded by wealthy Uighurs living abroad, not by Al Qaeda or the Taliban, and that they considered the United States to be their ally because of its history of staunch anti-communism.
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But Rohan Gunaratna, a terrorism expert in Singapore, believes that Uighur separatists pose more of a threat than U.S. authorities realize.
"It is true that they came to Afghanistan primarily to fight China, but they have been radicalized by their exposure to international terror groups," Gunaratna said. "The global jihadists very much have China in their sights.
"They feel that they've defeated the Soviet Union, they are defeating the United States, and next they will go after the dragon: China."
http://articles.latimes.com/2009/feb/18/world/fg-uighurs-gitmo18
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