News is beginning to spread of an attack in Kashgar, Xinjiang province of China that resulted in the deaths of 16 Chinese Border patrol officers. Some sources are reporting that two attackers crossed over from Tajikistan, but the NYT and AFP aren’t yet making that assumption. The AP on the other hand identifies the men as Uighurs and ambiguously refers to their origin as across the border. Frankly, the tone of most of the news so far oscillates between believing the Chinese state-run media that Uighurs are responsible and lacking knowledge of who else it could be. B. Raman from India suggests a few (also on Rediff in the link above):

The IMET, which is the main organisation of the anti-Beijing Uighurs, the IMU, the IJU and the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami of Pakistan/Bangaldeah had operated in the bordering areas of Tajikistan in the past. Before 9/11, the HuJI used to have a training camp in Tajikistan for training recruits from Xinjiang and the Central Asian Republics.

Otherwise, the maps listed with the stories barely even include Tajikistan in the pictures- see the prime example from AFP above. This could be a good thing for Tajikistan, which clearly wants to avoid a harsh public eye and the disapproval of an anxious China, or a bad thing, if it’s illustrative of all the problems of a terrorist presence with none of the aid to deal with it. A lot will depend on the power and decisions of the Chinese media trying to control this story in the next few days before the Olympics, which shouldn’t be hard with all the reporters spectating from Beijing nearly a full continent away from the non-Olympic action. All developments are certainly worth watching from the other side of the Chinese border, too.

[Update: the original AFP article was replaced with an updated version, identifying Xinjiang as “a vast area that borders Central Asia” and specifying a few ways China is controlling the story to focus on blaming the Uighurs.]