Zhang Chunxian, the top official of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region said on Tuesday some people from Xinjiang have crossed the border illegally to join the Islamic State.

“The organization has growing international influence and Xinjiang is affected by it. We’ve busted a terrorist cell in Xinjiang run by those who have returned from fighting with the organization,” party chief of the region Zhang said.

Zhang said that the Islamic State is a threat to the world and requires joint international efforts to fight it.

“Some people in Hotan prefecture in southern Xinjiang have been influenced by IS,”Eziz Musar, the prefecture’s commissioner said. “That influence is also felt in other parts of the region.”

External extremist forces use the Internet to spread their ideas, fan hatred, and propagate terror, Eziz said. Messages are downloaded by a very small group of local people who pass them on to others.

“Authorities have to put this extremist content on their watch list and enforce the law by accelerating the crackdown on those who spread such illegal information,” Eziz said.

The overall situation in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region remains stable and controllable, another senior official said.

“Violent terror attacks have provoked strong condemnation and opposition in the region,” Shohrat Zakir, chairman of the Xinjiang regional government said at a panel discussion during the ongoing annual session of the National People’s Congress.

Zakir also said that a number of violent terrorist attacks were thwarted while still in the embryonic stages.

Story by China Daily.