East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM).

The Xinjiang province of China. ETIM adherents reportedly have also operated in Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan.

ETIM seeks independence from China and the establishment of an independent, Islamic-oriented Uighur state called East Turkestan.

Unknown.

The U.S. and China have maintained that the group has financial connections to Al-Qaida. Several Uighur militants were captured in Afghanistan following the commencement of Operation Enduring Freedom. They were said to have provided U.S. officials with information about the links. Some Asia specialists have expressed skepticism about the alleged connections to Al-Qaida -- suggesting that it became convenient for Beijing to cite "terrorism" among political dissidents to mute complaints over Chinese human-rights abuses.

China blamed ETIM for more than 200 terrorist-style attacks between 1990 and 2001, including bombings of buses, markets and government facilities. Beijing also has accused ETIM of assassinating local government officials, Muslim leaders and civilians. While ETIM is likely to have had a role in many of these attacks, other separatist groups may have been involved either solely or in concert with ETIM adherents. According to the U.S. State Dept., ETIM has targeted Americans. In May 2002, two ETIM members were deported from Kyrgyzstan to China for allegedly planning an attack against the U.S. Embassy in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, as well as other U.S. interests abroad. The group attracted more international attention when it was blamed by Beijing for targeting the 2008 Olympic Games held in China.

A spate of violence in the Xinjiang region of China in the summer of 2008 triggered renewed interest in the separatist movement there. Often referred to as Turkestan, the Xinjiang region covers an area of 617,000 square miles, roughly the size of Alaska (650,000 square miles). Historically the western section of Turkestan has been affiliated with Russia. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, western Turkestan was split among Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, each of which has a significant Islamic element. Eastern Turkestan fell under the control of China, and is now referred to as the Xinjiang-Uighur Autonomous Region. The Uighurs, who comprise the largest ethnic minority in Xinjiang, are predominantly Muslim, speak a Turkic language and have close cultural ties with other Central Asian Islamic groups. A significant segment of the 8.3 million Uighur population has long sought separation from China, and the relatively recent influx of Han Chinese to Xinjiang during China's economic expansion has exacerbated separatist tensions. Xinjiang's total population is estimated at 20 million.

Islamic militants have fueled the separatist movement. In 1979, Abdul Hakeem, a militant Islamic separatist, was released from prison and established several schools in Xinjiang. Among his pupils was Hasan Mahsum, who later formed ETIM. After Mahsum was killed in Pakistan in 2003, Abdul Haq al Turkistani, also known as Maimaitiming Maimaiti, succeeded him as leader of the group.

According to the U.S. Treasury Dept., Haq was appointed in 2005 to Al-Qaida's executive leader council, called the Shura Majlis. He is said to be influential enough in the council to be dispatched to mediate between rival Taliban groups or represent the Shura Majlis in important military matters.

China labeled ETIM a terrorist group. Following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, China told the U.S. that ETIM had ties to Al-Qaida. The U.S. shortly thereafter added ETIM to its terrorist list. Some experts questioned ETIM's alleged links to Al-Qaida, and even challenged the notion of an organization known as ETIM, instead attributing the upsurge in attacks in 2008 to other groups, primarily the Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP), which has emerged as the leading separatist group in Xinjiang. Other authorities contend that what started as a separatist movement within Xinjiang province under the ETIM banner has now expanded to include a broader, regionally affiliated jihadist agenda.

A total of 22 suspected ETIM members were sent to the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, after being captured by U.S. forces in Afghanistan in 2001 and 2002. Five were transferred out of custody under the Bush administration; as of this update, 12 have been released by the Obama administration. Washington refused to send the men back to China over human-rights concerns.

Uigher separatists seized upon the opportunity provided by the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing to bring attention to their cause. Separatist groups, including ETIM, were said to be behind numerous attacks. None of these affected the Olympics. Attacks continued in Xinjiang after the Olympics.

Prior to the events of 2008, China largely controlled the insurgency in Xinjiang with a heavy police presence and demonstrating a public role for Uighurs.

Some separatist activity was noted in 2009 and 2010, with Chinese Muslims occasionally claiming an affiliation with ETIM.

The Pakistani government maintained that Haq was killed in a U.S. Predator drone strike in North Waziristan on Feb. 15, 2010. His death has not been confirmed. ETIM has not issued a martyrdom statement, nor has it named a replacement.

1950s
The People's Liberation Army began securing China's borders. The PLA seized the largely autonomous region of East Turkestan, now part of Xinjiang province.

1990
April: Five Uighurs were killed in riots in Kashgar, a major city in Xinjiang. Martial law was imposed in the region for several months.

1994
September: Five Uighur separatist organizations -- the East Turkestan Islamic Party, the East Turkestan People's Party, the Eastern Turkestan Gray Wolf Party, the Eastern Turkestan Independence Organization and the Eastern Turkestan Liberation Front -- met secretly in Gulja to discuss coordinating their activities.

1995
Uighur groups sabotaged railroads and oil wells in Xinjiang.

1996
After a series of attacks on Chinese targets, 5,000 Uighurs were arrested. The crackdown on separatists launched by the Chinese government drove Uighur insurgents underground and many migrated to nearby countries. Among them was Hasan Mahsum, who fled to Afghanistan.

1997
March: An explosion on a bus injured 30 in the Xinjiang capital of Urumqi.

1998
Mahsum established ETIM while living in Kabul and recruited the first cadres of ETIM operatives. He established ETIM as a direct successor to his former teacher's Hizbul Islam Li-Turkestan group. In Xinjiang, several assassinations, bombings and kidnappings were blamed on Uighur separatists.

1999
China arrested hundreds of Uighur separatists, causing a marked decrease in ETIM activities.
 
2002
May: Two ETIM separatists were deported to China from Kyrgyzstan for allegedly planning to attack the U.S. Embassy in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek.

August: The United States officially designated ETIM as a financier of terrorism.

September: The United Nations added ETIM to its official list of terrorist organizations.

2003
October: Mahsum was shot and killed in Pakistan by Pakistani troops. In a statement confirming his death, China said Mahsum was arrested in October 1993 for terrorist activities and was sentenced to three years of re-education through labor. He fled overseas in 1997 and then trained terrorists in Afghanistan. Mahsum plotted a series of violent terrorist activities, including robbery and murder in Xinjiang's capital city of Urumqi on Feb. 4, 1999, and violent murders in Xinjiang's Hotan region on Dec.14, 1999, causing heavy loss of lives and property, according to the statement.Abdul Haq al Turkistani succeeded Mahsum as ETIM leader around this time.

2006
May: Five Uighur separatists captured in Afghanistan were released from the U.S. prison at Guatanamo Bay, Cuba, after it was determined they were not a threat. Unwilling to return to China because of the likelihood of imprisonment, the Uighurs had no place to go until Albania accepted them. China unsuccessfully demanded their extradition, alleging they were ETIM members.

2007
January: Chinese national security forces raided a camp of suspected ETIM militants near the Xinjiang border with Tajikistan. Eighteen suspects were killed and 17 others arrested. A cache of weapons, including hand grenades, was found at the site.

February: China executed Ismail Semed, a founding member of ETIM, for attempting to "split the motherland."

April: Chinese authorities gave a life sentence to Huseyincan Celil, a Uighur-Canadian activist, on separatism and terrorism charges. Celil, an alleged ETIM member, had been detained in Uzbekistan and was repatriated to China in 2006.

June: China demanded that Pakistan turn over 20 Islamic militants believed to be hiding in that nation's northwest tribal areas.

2008
January: Haq directed an ETIM commander to "aggressively attack" all central cities in inner China, particularly focusing on cities holding the Olympic games, said an April 2009 U.N. report.

July: Chinese security forces carried out a pre-Olympic crackdown on Uighurs, convicting 15 and quickly executing two of them.

July 21: Two commuter buses were bombed in Kunming, in China's southern province of Yunnan, killing two people. According to Chinese media, Xinjiang security forces discovered a July 25 Internet posting by ETIM claiming responsibility for the bus bombings and warning that the group would stage further terror attacks during the Olympics. Some terrorist monitoring agencies attributed the Internet posting to the Turkestan Islamic Party.

July 30: A U.S. State Dept. official notified Congress that many of the Uighurs detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, had received terrorist training at a camp run by ETIM. The campe, said the under secretary of defense for policy, received funding from Al-Qaida.

Aug. 4: Just prior to the Beijing Olympics, two ethnic Uighurs killed 16 security officers in Kashgar, Xinjiang. The assailants drove a dump truck into a group of security police. The attackers possessed knives and home-made explosives, and were reported to have written manifestos supporting jihad activities in Xinjiang. The explosives and a homemade gun found at the scene were similar to those found by Xinjiang police at an ETIM training base in January 2007, according to local security forces.

August 10: Attackers raided a police station in Kuqa, resulting in the deaths of 10 of the assailants and a security guard.

Aug. 27: Chinese police killed six militants and arrested three others during a clash in Kashgar. Police conducted the operation in response to an Aug. 12 attack in which three security guards were killed and a fourth wounded at checkpoint at Yamanya, 20 miles from Kashgar. The nine suspects were armed with knives and reportedly resisted arrest.

Sept. 30: The Justice Dept., in a filing for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, maintained that the 17 remaining Uighur detainees were "no longer enemy combatants." In October, the department argued against their release in the United States due to their dangerous "military training."

2009
February: In an Internet posting, the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) made references to the death of former ETIM leader Hasan Mahsum in 2003, saying successor Abdul Haq al Turkistani was also the leader of TIP. The relationship between TIP and ETIM has remained somewhat amorphous.

Feb 18: A Swedish court awarded asylum to Adil Hakimjan, one of the former Uighur detainees at Guantanamo who resettled in Albania in 2006. Hakimjan had family members in Sweden.

April: Testifying at a U.S. Senate hearing about the Uighur detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that it would be "difficult for the State Dept. to make the argument to other countries they should take these people that we have deemed, in this case, not to be dangerous, if we won't take any of them ourselves."

April 15: The U.N. Security Council's Al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Committee put Haq on its list of individuals subject to the U.N.'s assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo. The U.N. said Haq raised funds, recruited terrorists and continued to develop ETIM as a terrorist organization.

April 20: The U.S. Treasury Dept. identified Haq as the successor to Mahsum as leader of the ETIP in 2003.

June: Palau agreed to accept Uighur detainees pending review. Bermuda also accepted four former detainees.

June: Haq reportedly met with Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan leader Baitullah Mehsud in Pakistan's tribal areas to discuss government military operations in South Waziristan.

August: Haq threatened to attack Chinese embassies worldwide, as well as targets within China.

October: Six Uighers were released from Guantanamo Bay and resettled in Palau. The remaining detainees refused to live in the island nation.

2010
Feb. 15: Haq was rumored to be killed in a U.S. Predator drone strike in North Waziristan, Pakistan. The report remains unverified as of this update.

March 25: Two former Uighur detainees were released to Switzerland.
 
April 26: A United Arab Emirates federal court delayed until May the trial of two suspected ETIM members. The male Chinese suspects were charged with entering the U.A.E. in July 2009 to carry out a bomb attack on Dragon Mart, a commercial establishment in Dubai.