Terrorism a priority for China police, judiciary: official

Anti-terrorism work is to be prioritized by China's police and judicial departments, said a senior security official in Beijing on Friday.

The country's law enforcement and judicial agencies will step up intelligence work, dig out terrorist cells and their underground communication channels, so as to improve early warning ability and "nip the attacks in the bud", said Meng Jianzhu, head of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, at a meeting here.

Police will upgrade street patrols and include the general public in the anti-terrorism campaign, Meng said.

The authorities will remove video and audio programs that promote terrorism online and wherever possible block channels used to mobilize and organize attacks.

They plan to crack down on human trafficking rings in a bid to stop people from going abroad and receiving terrorist training, while making efforts to stop religious extremism from infiltrating the country.

China will work with other countries more closely against terrorism, Meng vowed.

The meeting saw officials with police and judicial departments discuss the implementation of principles and policies issued at the second central work conference on northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Thursday, at which President Xi Jinping made an important speech.

Xinjiang has suffered a string of terrorist attacks lately. Three people were killed and 79 injured in an attack on April 30 at a railway station in Urumqi, the regional capital. An attack on a market in Urumqi left 39 dead and 94 injured in late May.

In March, a group of terrorists from Xinjiang killed 29 civilians and injured another 143 at a railway station in the southwestern city of Kunming.

Earlier this month, Xinjiang's regional public security department said local police had busted 23 terrorist and religious extremist groups and caught over 200 suspects.

Chinese police announced the start of a year-long nationwide anti-terrorism operation on Sunday.