BEIJING: Authorities in Chinaâs Muslim northwest have detained 179 people in a crackdown on an indigenous Islamic sect, an activist said Thursday. Authorities in the Yili district on Chinaâs northwestern border are trying to wipe out the Salar sect as an âevil cult,â said Dilxat Raxit, who advocates for Chinaâs Muslims, in a phone call from Sweden. The local authorities are âfighting the Salar sect and have seized 179 people, who are still being held,â said Raxit, a spokesman for the World Uighur Congress, which represents Chinaâs Uighurs, another Muslim group. A police official contacted by phone in Yili confirmed that authorities are fighting âan evil cultâ but denied that anyone had been detained. The official, who would give only his surname, Feng, said he didnât know the groupâs name. According to Raxit, the Salar sect is a type of Islam practiced by some Chinese Muslims who are members of the Hui ethnic group and is native to western China. It is not related to the similarly named Salar ethnic group, who are also Muslims, he said. Hui are descendants of Muslim traders from central Asia and members of Chinaâs dominant Han ethnic group who converted to Islam.