Authorities from Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous region busted 181 terror groups after launching a sweeping anti-terrorism campaign a year ago, the local government announced on Monday.

Experts expressed guarded optimism about the security situation in Xinjiang in the near future and suggested distinguishing terrorism from religious and ethical customs to avoid the indiscriminate crackdown on possible extremist activities and to prevent the penetration of extremism.

Records made available by the publicity office of the regional committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) show 96.2 percent of the terror groups were thwarted at the planning stage and 112 suspects surrendered to the police, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Monday.

The campaign was launched a day after the bombing of a market in the regional capital of Urumqi that killed 39 people on May 22, 2014.

In addition to anti-terror activities, the police have clamped down on religious extremism and media promoting terrorism, as well as heightened crackdowns on illegal border crossings.

Xinjiang prosecutors and courts defended procedures used during investigation and trials, saying they protected the defendants' legal rights. For a few cases that provided insufficient evidence, prosecutors sent back the cases to the police for further investigation, Xinhua reported.

"The local government has indeed taken great efforts to purge terror groups from the region. However, it is far from a turning point in the long-term maintenance of social stability as other groups will emerge," Pan Zhiping, the director of the Research Institute of Central Asia at the Xinjiang Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.

Turgunjan Tursun, a research fellow at the Xinjiang Academy of Social Sciences, said that curbing the spread of terrorism and extremism requires long-term efforts, such as uniting ethnic minority groups in Xinjiang by settling conflicts. He cited the authorities' "principle of five keys to governing Xinjiang" as an example.

According to the principle, put forward by  the CPC regional committee in November 2014, ideological, cultural, folk custom and religious issues should be solved with respect to and in accordance with the inherent laws of ideology, culture, customs and religion while combating terrorism should be done within the rule of law, the Xinjiang Daily reported in December.

The regional committee pointed out that residents from all ethnic groups in Xinjiang are crucial to fighting terrorism, as the police have solved 81 terror cases based on information provided by the public during the campaign.

In August last year, more than 30,000 volunteers helped local police locate suspects in Karakax county. Local authorities offered more than 300 million yuan ($48 million) to those who provide information on suspected terrorists.

"However, more cases relied on intelligence collected by the police," a Xinjiang-based senior official who requested anonymity, told the Global Times on Monday.

Pan pointed out that many ethnic people in Xinjiang have not been mobilized in the anti-terrorism campaign due to lack of knowledge. He suggested prioritizing the education of farmers who live in remote villages that could serve as hideouts for terrorists.

He applauded the drawing and sketch comedy activities to depict the threat of terrorism, saying those activities are simple but effective in making farmers understand the threat of terrorism.

Since August, the Xinjiang government has been holding a series of cultural activities, including short sketch comedies and drawing competitions, to help Uyghur people understand what extremism and separatism are.

Xinhua contributed to this story