Special to WorldTribune.com

Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) has released a recording in Mandarin Chinese that urges Muslims to “take up weapons to fight.”

The propaganda song was posted online by ISIL’s foreign-language media unit, Al Hayat Media Center, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks terror propaganda.

In 2014, ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi named China as one of many countries in which “Muslims’ rights are forcibly seized.”

Baghdadi also claimed that China was among the 12 nationalities of ISIL jihadists. There is no estimate on the number of Chinese nationals fighting for ISIL.

China’s ruling Communist Party has long said it faced an ongoing terrorist threat in the Xinjiang region that is populated with Muslim Uighurs. Such claims have been used to justify brutal crackdowns in the region.

Security officers have recently confiscated recordings urging Uighurs to take up arms, Chinese officials said.

In November, Chinese officials said that security forces used a flamethrower to force 10 “terrorists” from a cave in Xinjiang after tracking a group that officials believed to be responsible for a recent deadly coal mine attack.

Security officers killed 28 people linked to the attack, official reports said.

  Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, ISIL extends recruitment effort to China with propaganda song in Mandarin, Uighurs, WorldTribune.com