According to state-run
regional media portal Tianshan, 50 people, including 40 "rioters," were
shot dead by police or killed by a series of explosions.
"Police forces reacted decisively," said the report. The report didn't specify how many were killed by police.
The dead included six
civilians, two police officers and two auxiliaries, Tianshan said. The
primary suspect behind the bombings was shot dead, police said.
On Monday, state media
claimed that just two people were killed in the explosions. It is
unclear why more details were only released several days later.
Local police refused to
comment to CNN, saying the information surrounding the incident is
"confidential." The provincial government refused to provide more
details.
The violence occurred just two days before prominent Uyghur professor Ilham Tohti was found guilty of '"separatism" by a Chinese court and sentenced to life in prison.
Chinese authorities have
stepped up security measures in Xinjiang following several recent
attacks in the region, which has been the scene of ethnic strife between
the indigenous Uyghurs, a mainly Turkic-speaking Muslim population, and
Han Chinese.
The Chinese government
has blamed recent violent incidents in Xinjiang on Uyghur separatists
seeking to establish an independent state.
Waves of Han Chinese
have flocked to the resource-rich region, fueling tensions with the
Uyghurs, who regard themselves as culturally and ethnically closer the
people of nations bordering western China, such as Kazakhstan, Mongolia,
Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Xinjiang is now home to
more than eight million Han Chinese, up from 220,000 in 1949, and 10
million Uyghurs. Unemployment among Uyghurs is high, and they complain
of discrimination and harsh treatment by security forces.
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