Terrorist repents of being swayed by religious extremism

Three men armed with knives staged an attack in a chess and card room in Hotan Prefecture last Sunday. Locals and police rushed to contain the attack. Two of the suspects were killed and the third arrested. CCTV interviewed the arrested suspect, Mirzat, who says he had been blinded by religious extremism.

Monitoring video shows that before the attack, Mirzat and the two other attackers hung around outside the entrance to the card room for a minute and a half. They thought it would be easy to escape the police detection after staging an attack here. But they were wrong.

"People in the room attacked us with chairs and tables. We hadn't thought of that. I was really scared," Mirzat said.

Seeing that people were not intimidated, the three men tried to escape. But after they ran out, they found there was nowhere to go. More and more people took sticks and ran after them, and armed police soon arrived. Together they subdued the terrorists.

"If I were ever released, I will never do this again. I will take care of my parents," Mirzat said.

According to local police, the suspects were deeply influenced by religious extremism.

"I was told that jihad would save me from judgement after death and ensure a place for me in heaven," Mirzat said.

The self-professed "pious" Mirzat actually knows nothing of the history and teachings of Islam. He says he is repentant.

"I mistakenly believed their words and did this horrible thing. I want to say sorry to the people I hurt."

The remorse may be too late. He now awaits criminal punishment.