100 Uyghur militants from Syria’s Idlib undergoing training in Turkey
IDLIB, Syria (North Press) – On Tuesday, a group of militants of the Turkistan Islamic Party accessed Turkey from Idlib, northwest Syria, following coordination with Turkish intelligence to receive military training in a camp there.
A source in Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS, formerly al-Nusra Front) military affairs said, “Under coordination with the Turkish intelligence, the Turkistan Islamic Party has been training a number of its militants on Turkish territory for almost six months.”
The new sent batch to Turkey included about 100 militants, according to the source.
However, the source did not elaborate about the reason for launching the training in special camps inside Turkey.
It went further, adding that the Turkistan Islamic Party sent another batch of about 80 Uyghur militants two months ago, but it has not retuned yet.”
The Turkistan Islamic Party has very close ties with Turkey since its militants are originally Turkmen, and it is an armed Uyghur Salafist jihadist group that recruits only Turkmen in its ranks.
It mainly operates in the western countryside of Idlib (in Jisr al-Shughur and its countryside), north of Idlib, and in areas in Latakia.