Zhang Chunxian, the top official of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region said yesterday some Xinjiang people have crossed the border illegally to join Islamic State (IS).

Zhang Chunxian, Party chief of Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, attends a plenary meeting of Xinjiang legislators to the 12th National People's Congress, on March 10, 2015. [Photo/Chinanews.com]

"The organization has growing international influence and Xinjiang is affected by it. We've busted a terrorist cell in Xinjiang run by those who have returned from fighting with the organization," said Zhang, Party chief of the terror-affected region in Northwest China.

He added that IS is a threat to the world and requires joint international efforts to fight it.

"Some people in Hotan prefecture in southern Xinjiang have been influenced by IS," said Eziz Musar, the prefecture's commissioner. "That influence is also felt in other parts of the region."

External extremist forces use the Internet to spread their ideas, fan hatred and propagate terror, Eziz said. Messages are downloaded by a very small group of local people who pass them on to others.

"Authorities have to put this extremist content on their watch list and enforce the law by accelerating the crackdown on those who spread such illegal information," Eziz said.

Shohrat Zakir, chairman of the Xinjiang regional government, said yesterday at a panel discussion during the ongoing annual session of the National People's Congress that the overall situation in Xinjiang remained stable and controllable despite terror attacks.

"Violent terror attacks have provoked strong condemnation and opposition in the region," Zakir said.

A crackdown on violent terrorist attacks has been resolute with the concerted efforts of people from all ethnic groups, he said.

"A number of violent terrorist attacks had been thwarted while they were still in embryonic stages," he said. "There will be fewer and fewer, rather than more and more, violent terrorist cases."

He said that even terrorists' relatives had been assisting the authorities in their efforts to foil their activities, Xinhua news agency reported.

Stressing that terrorists were by nature anti-human and anti-society, he added: "They must be dealt with resolutely according to the law."

He said that many people in southern Xinjiang, especially rural areas, still could not speak Mandarin and that made it difficult to find jobs and easier to be influenced by extremist thinking. Zakir said bilingual education was important.

Che Jun, Xinjiang's deputy Party chief, said about 95 percent of potential attacks in Xinjiang had been prevented thanks to public tip-offs.

"This shows that terrorism is the enemy of all the people in Xinjiang," Che said.