BEIJING (AP) — China has launched an international manhunt for the alleged mastermind behind an attack at a train station last month blamed on extremists from the Muslim Turkic Uighur ethnic group.

The official China Daily newspaper said Monday that a request had been lodged with Interpol for the arrest of Ismail Yusup and an unspecified number of associates.

The report said that Yusup was a member of the East Turkistan Islamic Movement and organized the April 30 attack in the capital of the northwestern Xinjiang region that killed three people and injured 79 others.

Beijing says an organized militancy with elements based overseas is behind a rising number of terrorist attacks in the country. Little evidence has been provided to back up the claim and many analysts doubt such an organization exists.

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