China says too soon to say if Thai trafficking victims Uighur

A suspected Uighur from China's troubled far-western region of Xinjiang, holds his son at a temporally shelter after they were detained at the immigration regional headquarters near the Thailand-Malaysia border in Hat Yai, Songkla March 14, 2014. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's foreign ministry said on Monday that it was too soon to say if a group of about 200 people rescued by police from a human smuggling camp in southern Thailand were Uighurs from China's restive far western region of Xinjiang.

Thai police sources told Reuters that the people were believed to be Uighurs, a Muslim people who speak a Turkic language, many of whom chafe at Chinese restrictions on their culture and religion.