Lies and false hopes entrap Xinjiangers

International terrorist organizations are subverting traditional practices and forcing people from the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region to fight in a worldwide jihad, before sending them home to carry out more attacks, as Cui Jia reports from Urumqi and He Na from Nanning, the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

Meturdi Iminiaz, from the city of Hotan in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, simply couldn't shake the image of a member of an overseas terrorist cell forcing a small boy to fire a pistol. "I can't believe anyone would put their children through such a thing. Those children will be scared for life," the mother of two said.

She had just watched video clips filmed by Xinjiang natives who had smuggled themselves and even their families across the border to join international terrorist groups and carry out a "holy war".