Associated Press
November 29, 2014
Assailants weilding explosives and knives reportedly attacked civilians in Shache county in the far west of China.
A Chinese police SWAT team trains in Hami, Xinjiang province. Photograph: Reuters
An attack in China’s western region of Xinjiang left 15 people dead and 14 injured.
The official Xinhua news agency said the attack took place on Friday on a “food street” in Shache county, where state media said a series of attacks in July left 96 people dead, including 59 assailants.
The Tianshan news portal said Friday’s attackers wielded explosives and knives. Xinhua reported that 11 of the 15 people killed were assailants.
Police in Shache county declined comment.
There has been repeated violence in Xinjiang over the past year as members of the Muslim Uighur minority group challenge what they say is repressive Chinese rule.
Beijing regularly blocks attempts to independently confirm state media reports of ethnic violence in Xinjiang. Uighur groups say police have used indiscriminate deadly force against people protesting against the government’s policies in the region.
The US-based Uyghur American Association disputed government accounts of the July attacks that described mobs rampaging through towns with knives and axes targeting majority Han Chinese.
The association said police opened fire on people protesting against a security crackdown on Muslims during Ramadan, killing more than 20.
Last month, a Xinjiang court sentenced 12 people to death for the July attacks and handed down death sentences with two-year reprieves to another 15 people.
Chinese authorities say their security crackdown in Xinjiang has dismantled 115 “terrorist” groups before they could unleash violence, but tallies of death tolls in the region suggest the violence has continued and may even have intensified.
Chinese state media outlets have reported at least 175 deaths in the past six months in eight violent incidents.
