Calum MacLeod
USA TODAY - September 26, 2014
The latest violent clash in China's troubled Xinjiang region,
described by authorities as a terrorist attack, was far more deadly than
first reported, according to state media accounts.
At least fifty
people died Sunday, including 40 "rioters," and 54 other people were
injured, after a series of explosions rocked Xinjiang's Luntai County,
Tianshan Net reported late Thursday. Tianshan Net is a news portal run
by the regional government. Previous reports said only two people had
died.
Six civilians, two police officers and two auxiliary
policemen were killed, and two rioters were captured alive, after what
Xinjiang police called an "organized and serious" terrorist attack.
Over
300 people have died in the past year in Xinjiang-related violence,
according to Chinese state media. Officials blame overseas terror groups
for fanning the frustrations and separatist ambitions of the Uighur
minority. A mostly Muslim people, many Uighurs chafe at cultural and
religious restrictions set by the ruling Communist Party, and resent the
economic dominance of China's majority Han ethnic group.
The
explosions occurred at two police stations, a shop and a produce market,
Tianshan said Thursday. The injured civilians comprised 32 ethnic
Uighurs and 22 Han. The 40 "rioters," or assailants, either died from
their own explosions or were shot dead by police who "took decisive
action," the website reported.
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