For the first time, US drone strikes in Pakistan have killed a prominent Chinese Muslim separatist linked to Al-Qaeda, media reports said on Tuesday.
Abdul Haq al-Turkistani, who led a Chinese Muslim militant group called Turkistan Islamic Party or TIP, was `killed in a US drone strike on February 15, CBS News reported.
The killing of al-Turkistani has likely given China 'a significant success in its campaign against Islamic separatists', it quoted unnamed Pakistani security officials as saying.
Al-Turkistani's death came as China sought to overpower separatists in its oil-rich Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region -- the main Muslim majority province.
Last year, al-Turkistani appeared in a video on an Islamic Website in which he urged his followers to attack Chinese people in and outside China. His comments were seen as a reaction to Beijing's recent crackdown in Xinjiang after Muslim separatists publicly protested against China's rule, the report said.
One of al-Turkistani's ambitions was to establish closer ties between Xinjiang separatists and militant Islamic outfits outside China.
Beijing has repeatedly asked Pakistan to crack down on Xinjiang separatists hiding in Pakistan ever since the 9/11 terrorist attacks and US-led invasion of Afghanistan.
