FEATURE - C.Asia Uighurs harbour revenge for Xinjiang kinfolk

By Maria Golovnina

ALMATY (Reuters) - His voice echoing inside a small blue-domed mosque, Mukhametzhar-haji speaks angrily about what he describes as China's brutality against his fellow Uighur Muslims in the riot-hit region of Xinjiang.

"Here in Kazakhstan everyone was furious when we heard about the murder of our people there," he said, stroking his white beard as he sat barefoot on the carpeted floor of the mosque.

"Many of our people, especially those who served in the army in places like Afghanistan, were ready to rush to their rescue. But we can't just grab weapons and go. It's not our way."

Perched on a dusty street corner in Kazakhstan's biggest city Almaty, the mosque is one of many pockets of Uighur life scattered around the former Soviet republic -- home to the biggest Uighur community outside China.

As clashes between Uighurs and Han Chinese erupted in July in the Xinjiang capital Urumqi -- just a day's drive from Almaty -- many of Kazakhstan's 300,000 Uighurs found themselves torn between anger and despair for their kinfolk across the border.

Emotions ran so high that community elders said they had to urge restraint among younger Uighurs longing for revenge.

In Xinjiang's worst ethnic violence in decades, 192 people died in clashes this month which China said were orchestrated by Uighur separatists. About 1,000 people have been detained.

"If our people here had any weapons available they would have gone there in no time to help their brothers," said Malik Vasilov, a 40-year-old man who came to the mosque to pray.