At least 27 persons, including nine security personnel, were killed on Wednesday as knife-wielding rioters attacked police stations and government building in China’s restive Xinjiang province in one of the worst episodes of violence since 2009.
Riots, which took place in remote Lukqun township of Shanshan County in Turpan Prefecture, left 27 persons dead, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Knife-wielding mobs attacked the township’s police stations, the local government building and a construction site, stabbing people and setting police cars on fire, officials with Xinjiang’s regional committee of the Communist Party of China said.
Seventeen people had been killed — including nine policemen or security guards and eight civilians — before police opened fire and shot dead 10 rioters, the officials said.