At least 11 people, including nine militants and two policemen, were killed during an attack on a police station in a remote area in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) in China’s far west on Saturday.
The latest round of violence in the increasingly restive region comes within three weeks of Beijing blaming members of the Muslim Uyghur community from Xinjiang of carrying out a “terrorist attack” at Tiananmen Square that left five people dead and over 40 injured.
Saturday’s incident occurred in the far-flung Kashgar prefecture deep in southern Xinjiang in a township called Selibuya, state media reported on Sunday. A government statement gave sparse details, only saying nine people armed with knives and axes attacked the Selibuya police station. Two assistant police officers were killed in the attack. The police retaliated by shooting and killed all the nine attackers. The government identified only one of the attackers as Abula Ahat.
It was the second attack this year on Selibuya’s police station. State media reported that in April, a “terror attack by a 25-member gang in the town left 21 dead, including six attackers and six police officers.” The clash was described by the region’s information office as a “severe, violent terror incident”.
The police investigation into the April incident revealed that the gang “took part in a physical training and learned how to kill by watching footage of terrorist attacks.”
{{/usCountry}}The police investigation into the April incident revealed that the gang “took part in a physical training and learned how to kill by watching footage of terrorist attacks.”
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