London-based risk analysis firm Stirling Assynt has warned its clients that Al-Qaeda's Algerian-based offshoot, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, has issued the call for vengeance, the report stated.
Although the AQIM appears to be the first arm of Qaeda to officially announce their intentions to target Chinese interests, others are likely to follow, the assessment notes.
Osama bin Laden's outfit has never previously threatened China, but the Stirling report said that vengeance over Beijing's supression in Xinjiang was spreading fast over the global jihadist community.
The trouble began last week when an initially peaceful Muslim demonstration of Uighur exile groups went out of control with violent protesters smashing vehicles and clashing with the police.
The exile groups alleged that the violence started only after the police launched a violent crackdown.
Even as China's riot-hit Urumqi was showing signs of normalcy on Monday, the death toll in the weeklong clashes between the Han Chinese and the Uighur communities touched 180, with the figures most likely to go up.
