Police station attack in China's Xinjiang region leave 11 dead
- 9 years ago
Originally published on November 17, 2013
Eleven people were killed and two were injured on Saturday in the Chinese region of Xinjiang, after a group of people armed with axes and knives attacked a police station.
According to reports, the assault took place at about 5:30 p.m. in Selibuya township.
Nine mobs holding knives and axes attacked the station and killed two officers. Police gunned all of them down immediately after, Reuters reported.
One of the attackers was identified with an apparent Uighur name, a web report from the Xinjiang government stated.
According to Xinhua, another two policemen were injured in the attack.
Police said that after the armed men were killed social order returned to normal.
Dilxat Raxit, a spokesman for the World Uyghur Congress, a Munich-based advocacy group, said however that the Uighurs were protesting and that armed Chinese personnel were to blame for the violence, AFP reported.
He said in an email that besides the deaths, "several tens" of Uighur demonstrators were arrested.
"I again call on international society to take emergency measures to stop the Chinese government from directly opening fire to suppress Uighur protesters and depriving them of using legal appeals and defending their rights," he added, according to AFP.
The reported incident comes at a time of heightened tensions following an attack in Beijing's Tiananmen Square that the government blamed on "terrorists" from Xinjiang.
According to Reuters, the government often blames the frequent outbreaks of violence in Xinjiang on extremists agitating for an independent state.
"Many of the Turkic-speaking Uighurs chafe at Beijing's restrictions on their culture, language and religion, though the government insists it grants them broad freedoms," Reuters reported.
Xinjiang is a desert-like region that were once part of the former Soviet Union, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
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Eleven people were killed and two were injured on Saturday in the Chinese region of Xinjiang, after a group of people armed with axes and knives attacked a police station.
According to reports, the assault took place at about 5:30 p.m. in Selibuya township.
Nine mobs holding knives and axes attacked the station and killed two officers. Police gunned all of them down immediately after, Reuters reported.
One of the attackers was identified with an apparent Uighur name, a web report from the Xinjiang government stated.
According to Xinhua, another two policemen were injured in the attack.
Police said that after the armed men were killed social order returned to normal.
Dilxat Raxit, a spokesman for the World Uyghur Congress, a Munich-based advocacy group, said however that the Uighurs were protesting and that armed Chinese personnel were to blame for the violence, AFP reported.
He said in an email that besides the deaths, "several tens" of Uighur demonstrators were arrested.
"I again call on international society to take emergency measures to stop the Chinese government from directly opening fire to suppress Uighur protesters and depriving them of using legal appeals and defending their rights," he added, according to AFP.
The reported incident comes at a time of heightened tensions following an attack in Beijing's Tiananmen Square that the government blamed on "terrorists" from Xinjiang.
According to Reuters, the government often blames the frequent outbreaks of violence in Xinjiang on extremists agitating for an independent state.
"Many of the Turkic-speaking Uighurs chafe at Beijing's restrictions on their culture, language and religion, though the government insists it grants them broad freedoms," Reuters reported.
Xinjiang is a desert-like region that were once part of the former Soviet Union, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
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TomoNews is your daily sourc