10,000 Uighurs disappeared during unrest in China, exiled leader claims

Rebiya Kadeer says undercover snatch squads targeted Uighurs during Urumqi clashes

• Justin McCurry in Tokyo
• guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 29 July 2009 12.38 BST

Rebiya Kadeer, head of the World Uighur Congress, gives a press conference in Japan. Photograph: Junji Kurokawa/AP

Rebiya Kadeer, the exiled Uighur leader, today claimed that almost 10,000 Uighurs had “disappeared” during ethnic unrest in China’s north-western region of Xinjiang earlier this month and called on the international community to launch an inquiry.

Speaking during a controversial visit to Japan, Kadeer said Chinese authorities had used undercover “snatch squads” to target Uighurs during clashes between Uighur and Han Chinese in the city of Urumqi on 5 July.

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Tags: casualties, China, protests, Rebiya Kadeer, Uighurs, Uighurs disappeared, Urumqi, Xinjiang