Ethnic aggression: Deadly violence hits restive Xinjiang

Knife-wielding attackers kill 10 people in China’s Xinjiang region.

BEIJING: Knife-wielding attackers killed 10 people in China’s Xinjiang region and another four were shot dead by police as a wave of violence swept the ethnically-torn area, state media and officials said on Sunday.

The unrest occurred in the ancient Silk Road city of Kashgar in two separate attacks, and local residents said the city centre was under lockdown, with security forces patrolling the streets. In the first attack on Saturday evening, seven people were killed and 28 others hurt at a night market by two attackers with knives, one of whom was later killed in violence, the authorities said. On Sunday three people were hacked to death by rioters, the Xinhua news agency said. It had earlier reported they died in an explosion, but a follow-up report left it unclear whether there had been a blast or not. Police shot dead four suspects allegedly involved in the attack.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 1^st, 2011.