Friday, September 26, 2014

Reports: 50 were killed in China clash

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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