Kashgar is "one of the most volatile cities in China", near to the border with Afghanistan and Pakistan, and contains many cultural icons for the Chinese Muslim Uyghur minority.
[3] In the run-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics in August, two Uyghur men killed 16 people in Kashgar with a combination truck collision and stabbing.
[5] Because Kashgar lies in a seismic zone, the city is undergoing a $1.1 billion urban renewal plan to replace mudbrick structures with new foundations that meet modern standards of earthquake safety and sanitation.
Since explosives are tightly controlled in Xinjiang and in the border regions, the ETIM has resorted to knife, pin prick, and vehicular attacks against civilians and security forces to achieve its goals.
Chinese HUMINT in Xinjiang is stunted by the Uyghurs' unwillingness to cooperate with police, so state security forces find difficulty in anticipating and planning for terrorist attacks.
[10] Five miles from the site of the explosions[3] at 11:45 pm,[5] two armed[11] Uyghur men hijacked a blue truck waiting at a traffic light by stabbing its driver to death.
[11][14] At 4:30 pm on the following day,[3] a group of 12 Uyghur men armed with guns[15][16] and knives[17] threw explosives into busy Kashgar dapanji restaurant, causing a fire.
[19] Memtieli Tiliwaldi (买买提艾力·铁力瓦尔地) and Turson Hasan (吐逊·艾山), two Uyghur men who had warrants for their arrest issued, were fatally shot by police one day later in a corn field on the outskirts of Kashgar.
[28] The Turkistan Islamic Party supporting website "Doğu Türkistan Bülteni Haber Ajansı" praised a TIP member, Hamza (Muhammad Ali Told Rahim), who joined the Turkistan Islamic Party as one of the "mujahideen" fighting in Khorasan (Afghanistan) on December 15, 2006, and returned to Kashgar to participate in the 2011 Kashgar attacks in which he was killed, citing from a Human Rights Watch report which praised Hamza.
[29] Chinese media condemned both days' attacks,[10] followed by the Government of Pakistan which said that "all incidents of terrorism are deplorable" and promised full cooperation with China against ETIM.
[30] The Pakistan Army announced that it would continue operations against ETIM,[25] although some analysts doubt the strength of the Pakistani government in controlling terrorism.
[38] Minister of Public Security Meng Jianzhu added that, in addition to a crackdown, the government will address the social grievances that can lead to terrorism by expanding compulsory education and community development efforts.
[36] On August 13, the elite counterterrorist Snow Leopard Commando Unit was deployed to Hotan and Kashgar to secure the cities ahead of the China-Eurasia Expo in September.
Four were given death sentences, and two were given 19-year jail terms, for charges including "leading and organizing a terror group, manufacturing illegal explosives, intentional homicide, [and] arson".