A man police say is a member of the East Turkistan Islamic Movement has been detained in Hebei province on suspicion of planning a bombing.

In video footage broadcast by China Central Television on Monday, the man, named only as Ekber, confessed that he was trained in Syria in 2013 and had lived in Shijiazhuang, provincial capital of Hebei, since returning to China early this year.

"I planned to make some money in Shijiazhuang and look for explosive materials. I tried to make enough money to stay in the city. I wanted to bomb a shopping mall, and my plan was to train others when I arrived there and instruct them to bomb other cities," Ekber said.