IS training Uighur fighters to make blood 'flow in rivers'

Chinese military police attending an anti-terrorist oath-taking rally in Hetian, in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. Pic/AFP

Beijing: Vowing to plant their flag in China and that blood will "flow in rivers", a video released this week purportedly by the Islamic State group shows ethnic Uighur fighters training in Iraq.

The Iraqi arm of IS has released a half-hour long video purportedly showing Uighurs training, as well as some images from inside Xinjiang, including Chinese police on the streets. One shot that shows Chinese President Xi Jinping gives way to flames in front of a Chinese flag.

In another scene, a man chanting in Uighur says: "Our land of sharia has been constructed with spilt blood." The video then shows pictures of people who were said to have become "martyrs", and identified as men from Turkestan, the name many Uighurs use for Xinjiang. "In retaliation for the tears that flow from the eyes of the oppressed, we will make your blood flow in rivers, by the will of God!" he says.