quote:

'Eruption of violence' in China's Xinjiang

Four "suspects" killed by police in clashes that followed a brutal knife attack that left seven civilians dead.

Al Jazeera English
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/a...1816579898.html

Police have shot and killed four suspects after "an eruption of violence'' that came just hours after seven people were killed by a pair of knife-wielding attackers.

China's state-run Xinhua News Agency reported two clashes on Sunday in Kashgar, capital of Xinjiang province, a region rocked by riots and ethnic violence in recent years. Other news agencies reported explosions and gunshots throughout the day.

An overseas ethnic activist group told the AP news agency it feared the violence could prompt a fresh crackdown on minority Uighurs blamed for previous unrest in the region.

A man reached Sunday at a hotel close to a major shopping street in Kashgar told the AP he had heard gunshots in the area in the afternoon.

The source, who would not give his name out of fear of reprisals, said he saw police, fire engines and ambulances, which were carrying at least two injured. He said police were not allowing people or
vehicles to enter the street.

Hijacking and massacre

Seven people have been killed and 28 others injured in a hijacking and knife attack on civilians that erupted on Saturday night in a food stall-lined street in Kashgar.

"The attack happened in a rather dramatic fashion. The two attackers hijacked a truck, killed the driver, and drove the truck straight into the crowd," said Al Jazeera's Melissa Chan on Sunday from Beijing.

"Then they jumped out and proceeded knifing random citizens, eventually being overtaken by the crowd themselves before they finally stopped," Chan added.

One of the attackers was later killed in the violence that followed and another was detained, according to a website operated by the regional government.

State-run Xinhua news agency reported that two blasts were heard about an hour before the incident on Saturday night - one from a minivan and the other from the street where the hijacking took place.

Surge in violence

"Now the ethnicity of the attackers is very important. We understand from a government spokesperson that they were indeed Uighurs. And this is an area that has seen tension between the Han Chinese and the Uighurs - a Turkic Muslim group," our correspondent said.

"This is the second time this month that there has been an attack," she added. "Earlier this month a police station was burned down and 20 people died there. All of this showing that the Chinese government faces great challenges in this region that has seen a lot of unrest."

State media quoted an official in Xinjiang as saying that the violence at the police station was a "terrorist" attack.

Uighur activists, however, called it an outburst of anger by ordinary Uighurs and said security forces beat 14 people to death and shot dead six others during the violence.

An overseas Uighur advocacy group said most of Saturday's dead and injured were members of a security force that helps the police maintain order.

"I am worried that authorities may detain more Uighurs by making use of this incident,'' Dilxat Raxit, spokesman for the Germany-based World Uighur Congress, wrote to AP.

In 2009, nearly 200 people in Xinjiang were killed in fighting between Uighurs and Han Chinese.

quote: (post)

Originally posted by inimalist
Very interesting event. I've never heard of such direct attacks against civilians by the Uighurs, though I don't really follow the region.

Like other sorts of ethnic violence, when attacking the state and other symbols of the oppressors fails, groups often resort to attacking their own for failing to rise up against the oppressors. I'm wondering if that is now starting in China.