2013 Maralbeshi incident
State media reported that local police and ‘community workers’ had allegedly uncovered a ‘terrorist cell’ while conducting routine house-to-house searches in a rural area in Maralbeshi, leading to a clash that eventually ended in a house being burned to the ground and at least 15 police and ‘community workers’ killed. However, much about the event remains unclear. Some reports suggested that the Uyghurs responded violently when authorities found them watching a ‘terrorist’ video, and others said the group was merely conducting a Qur’anic study session at the time. Likewise, sources are unclear on how the house had burned down with police and ‘community workers’ inside and whether the fire was initiated by the Uyghurs or the police. The official media’s coverage of the event, which it reported as a ‘terrorist attack,’ was likely due to the large number of casualties suffered by security forces in the violence, but the coverage also gave the state an opportunity to ‘hype’ the threat posed by alleged ‘terrorists’ within the Uyghur population when TIP again issued a video commending the local Uyghurs involved and calling it an act of jihad.