Mob of Uyghurs kills 12 innocent bystanders: police
Wednesday, Feb 29, 2012
BEIJING - A group of axe-wielding men attacked a market in the volatile Xinjiang region of northwest China, home to the Uyghur minority, leaving at least 12 people dead, police and state media said.
The motive behind the attack late on Tuesday was not immediately clear, although Xinjiang has suffered repeated outbreaks of ethnic unrest in recent years.
Around a dozen Uyghurs attacked the market in the remote town of Yecheng, killing 10 people, a police officer.
Police then shot some of the attackers dead.
Xinhua news put the number of assailants killed at two, and said the men were armed with knives.
The vast region, which borders Pakistan and Afghanistan, is home to around nine million Uyghurs who complain of oppression under Chinese rule. The number of Han - China's dominant ethnic group - living in the region has increased dramatically over the last decade.
"At around 5.30 or 6.00 pm around a dozen rioters carrying axes appeared in the market, in an area that is mostly populated by Han people," said the officer, who gave only his surname Tuo, referring to China's dominant ethnic group.
"Most of the victims were Han people, but some were Uyghurs. Five rioters were shot, not two, and they were all Uyghurs."
Authorities in Xinjiang said last month they plan to recruit 8,000 extra police officers as China strengthens security in the run-up to a major leadership transition later this year.
Xinjiang has been under heavy security since July 2009, when Uyghurs launched attacks on members of China's dominant Han group in the regional capital Urumqi.
The government says nearly 200 people were killed and 1,700 injured in the violence.
In December, seven people were killed in Pishan county in what the government described as a hostage rescue operation after terrorists kidnapped two people.
The region was also hit by three deadly attacks last July that left dozens dead.
AsiaOne
