Lots of questions have been raised about the sincerity of a Islamic group claiming to be behind recent bombings in China; and who also say they're planning more attacks during the Olympics.

The claims are made in a three minute video – which features bomb noises, flames and what look likes the Bird's Nest stadium – allegedly released by the Turkestan Islamic Party, a previously little known group.

Global Voices Online, in their post, quote New Dominion's blogger saying there's a few "eyebrow-raising" points to consider, including why the delay in claiming responsibility?

" … "Why would China remain silent on such issues even if they had the slightest inkling that East Turkestan terrorists were responsible for the acts? There's a trend among the government to exploit every opportunity to justify increased Olympics security and crackdowns in restive minority areas, as evidenced by the glowing report released recently on "busting up terrorist cells …" …"

Systematic violations

China's remote Xinjiang province used to be known as East Turkestan; it's home to the ethnic Muslim Uighur people. In the lead up to the Olympics Chinese authorities have claimed the Uighur have been behind several Olympics terrorist plots.

Amnesty's research has found that the Uighur have been the target of systematic human rights violations, and have faced severe restrictions on their religious freedom and their social and cultural rights since the 1980s. Recently, China has used the "war on terror" to suppress the Uighurs, calling them terrorists, separatists and religious extremists.

Time reported the threat made in the video was met with skepticism both inside and outside China. They quote Human Rights Watch's chief researcher for China, Nicholas Bequelin:

" … "My hunch is that this is a media driven operation … The goal is to help it to recruit people to the cause or attract attention" at a time when the eyes of the world are focused on China. "I don't think they seriously are claiming responsibility." …"

Terrorise the public

In the Sydney Morning Herald, Nicholas Bequelin is quoted saying it's hard to assess the validity of such claims because of China's exaggeration of previous terrorism threats and repression of dissident groups like the Uighur.

That report, published today, also says China is now dismissing the video claims. It quotes a Chinese security expert saying it was "probably just an attempt to terrorise the public and upset the Olympics".

Blogger Kenneth Tan at Shanghaiist Blog also has a extensive post on the video threats.