At least 140 people have been killed and more than 800 others injured as ethnic violence erupted in China's restive Xinjiang region.
A government spokesman confirmed on Monday that at least 140 people were killed, after hundreds of locals took to the streets of the regional capital Urumqi on Sunday -- burning and smashing vehicles and confronting police and anti-riot troops -- state media Xinhua news agency reported.
Xinhua did not say how many people were involved or how many have been arrested, but AFP said that the confrontation involved around 3,000 Uighurs, and that at least 300 had been arrested.
The unrest had followed a protest against government handling of a clash between Han Chinese and Uighur factory workers in far southern China in late June, when two Uighurs died.
Police used electric cattle prods and fired gunshots into the air to try to quell the unrest. Three people from China's majority Han Chinese ethnic group died in the attacks and an overnight curfew was declared.
On Monday morning, however, order was restored "the situation was under control", according to Xinhua.
China has called Sunday's unrest in Urumqi, "a crime of violence that was pre-meditated and organized", saying that it was masterminded by the World Uighur Congress led by Rebiya Kadeer, who lives in exile in the United States.
The unrest is the latest in more than a year of violence to hit Xinjiang, home to eight million Muslim Uighurs -- many of whom say they have suffered political and religious persecution under Han Chinese rule for decades.
During this long period of time Uighur separatists have waged a low-level campaign against Chinese rule and there continues to be sporadic outbreaks of violence in the region.
Source: Press TV
A government spokesman confirmed on Monday that at least 140 people were killed, after hundreds of locals took to the streets of the regional capital Urumqi on Sunday -- burning and smashing vehicles and confronting police and anti-riot troops -- state media Xinhua news agency reported.
Xinhua did not say how many people were involved or how many have been arrested, but AFP said that the confrontation involved around 3,000 Uighurs, and that at least 300 had been arrested.
The unrest had followed a protest against government handling of a clash between Han Chinese and Uighur factory workers in far southern China in late June, when two Uighurs died.
Police used electric cattle prods and fired gunshots into the air to try to quell the unrest. Three people from China's majority Han Chinese ethnic group died in the attacks and an overnight curfew was declared.
On Monday morning, however, order was restored "the situation was under control", according to Xinhua.
China has called Sunday's unrest in Urumqi, "a crime of violence that was pre-meditated and organized", saying that it was masterminded by the World Uighur Congress led by Rebiya Kadeer, who lives in exile in the United States.
The unrest is the latest in more than a year of violence to hit Xinjiang, home to eight million Muslim Uighurs -- many of whom say they have suffered political and religious persecution under Han Chinese rule for decades.
During this long period of time Uighur separatists have waged a low-level campaign against Chinese rule and there continues to be sporadic outbreaks of violence in the region.
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