Saturday, November 29, 2014

• Xinjiang violence: 15 reported killed in attack

China is enforcing a security crackdown in Xinjiang and Uighur activists say that in doing so its is fuelling the violence


At least 15 people have been killed and 14 others injured during an attack in the far western Chinese region of Xinjiang, state media has reported.

It said that the violence started when a group of "terrorists" attacked civilians in Shache county, 200km from the regional capital of Kashgar.

Xinjiang is home to the Muslim Uighur minority group.

There has been a wave of violence in the region, with more than 150 people being killed so far this year.

China has blamed the unrest on Uighurs pushing for the region's independence.

China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported that the attackers on Friday threw bombs out of a vehicle before they stabbed people on a street lined with food stalls.

Eleven of the dead are reported to be the attackers.

An attack in the same region in July left nearly 100 people dead, including 59 assailants, state media said.

Confirming reports about incidents in Xinjiang is difficult, because access is tightly controlled and information flow restricted.

China is enforcing a security crackdown in Xinjiang, and Uighur activists say that the government's repression of Uighur culture and religious customs is fuelling the violence.

Earlier this week, the authorities announced plans to hire 3,000 former soldiers to patrol residential areas in the region.



More:
  • Uighurs are ethnically Turkic Muslims and make up about 45% of the region's population; 40% are Han Chinese
  • China re-established control in 1949 after crushing the short-lived state of East Turkestan
  • Since then, there has been large-scale immigration of Han Chinese
  • Uighurs say they fear their traditional culture is being eroded


  

 
Chinese paramilitary police stand guard 
in Urumqi -- the capital of the Muslim 
Uighur region of Xinjiang -- on May

Fifteen people have been killed and 14 others wounded in a "terrorist attack" in China's mostly Muslim Xinjiang region, the official Chinese news agency said Saturday.

A group of "terrorists" launched an attack on civilians Friday in Shache county, leaving four people dead and 14 wounded. Eleven "terrorists" were also shot dead during the violence, according to CCTV, China's state broadcaster.

Chinese state news agency Xinhua confirmed the death toll, citing a statement from local authorities.

At around 1.30pm (0530 GMT) on Friday men armed with knives threw explosive devices and attacked crowds on commercial street, Xinhua reported.

Eleven of the attackers were killed by police who were patrolling in the area. Explosives, knives and axes were seized at the scene.

The wounded were evacuated and taken to hospital, the news agency said.

Situated 200 kilometres from the regional capital of Kashgar, the district of Shache -- or Yarkand in the Uighur language -- was the scene of violent clashes in July, shortly before the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Police officers then killed dozens of attackers "who were attacking civilians and vehicles", according to state media.

The fresh unrest underscores the deterioration of the situation in Xinjiang, where Beijing has launched a severe crackdown in recent months with dozens of executions officially announced and hundreds of arrests, followed by speedy mass trials and the public exhibition of so-called "terrorists".

Friday's attack comes five days after students of the imprisoned Uighur intellectual Ilham Tohti were brought before a Chinese court in a secret trial, accused -- like their professor -- of "separatism".

A Chinese judge Friday rejected Tohti's appeal against the life sentence imposed in September.

Tohti, a respected economist, is considered a moderate voice who had long denounced the repression of Uighurs in Xinjiang, without demanding complete independence for the region.

Experts say that the extremely severe verdict suggests that it is unlikely that tensions will ease in Xinjiang, a vast region where violence and repression by security forces have left hundreds dead since last summer.

Xinjiang is frequently hit by unrest sparked by fierce tensions between China's ethnic Han majority and the Turkic-speaking Muslim Uighurs, with authorities regularly blaming Uighur militants for the violence.

Some Uighurs in the north west Chinese region are hostile to Beijing's leadership.

They say they are victims of discrimination and left out of the benefits of development in Xinjiang, which has seen an influx of Han Chinese moving in from elsewhere in the country.

Experts and human rights activists say that repressive policies regarding religion and culture adopted by Beijing have fuelled conflict in the region.

 

 









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