The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Wednesday confirmed the death of Hasan Mahsum, head of the terrorist group "the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement." 

Husan Mahsum was shot dead by the Pakistani army on Oct. 2 in a joint anti-terror raid along the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan, Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said.

Hasan Mahsum was born in 1964 in China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. He was arrested in October 1993 by Chinese police for terrorist activities and spent three years in a labor camp. He fled overseas in 1997 and since then he had been in Afghanistan training terrorists.

According to Liu, Hasan Mahsum plotted a series of violent terrorist activities in recent years, including robbery and murder in Xinjiang's capital city of Urumqi and violent murders in Xinjiang's Hotan region, causing heavy loss of lives and property.

The FM spokesman said Hasan Hahsum's death was a result of the international anti-terror cooperation and the Chinese government will continue to work with the international community to fight terrorism.

(Xinhua News Agency December 25, 2003)