Chinese fighters join Syrian battle

Uygur separatists join civil war in Syria, party daily says

Uygur separatists from the northwestern autonomous region of Xinjiang are battling Syrian government forces alongside al-Qaeda and other extremist groups, an official newspaper reported yesterday.

Radical members of the ethnic Turkic minority had been travelling to Syria since May to join the fighting in missions organised by groups opposed to Beijing's rule over Xinjiang, the Global Times, a tabloid affiliated with the Communist Party mouthpiece People's Daily, said.