Hong Kong – China’s southern coastal cities have become the preferred gateway to the Middle East for Uighur extremists joining the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants, the South China Morning Post reported yesterday.

The news came as Chinese universities warned Uighur students in the southern city of Guangzhou about extremist recruiters after reports said several students had gone missing after their encounter with suspected recruiters.

“Over 400 Uighurs have left, most through Hong Kong via Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, to join the IS,” Professor Rohan Gunaratna of Nanyang Technological University was quoted by the Post as saying, referring to ISIS’ alternative name.

“There should be greater intelligence cooperation to detect and disrupt terrorist travel,” added Prof Gunaratna, head of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research, who declined to shed light on his source of information.