China orders media out of restive Kashgar

China orders foreign reporters to leave the ancient Silk Road City of Kashgar, citing safety concerns following deadly clashes in other parts of Xinjiang Province. A Chinese official advised "All foreign journalists” to leave the regional capital of Urumqi “for their own safety." Quoting a foreign ministry press official, Chen Li, AFP reports that the order to leave Kashgar is in sharp contrast to the rare access granted to foreign journalists in the area and comes only hours after security forces stopped journalists from filing reports from the city's main 'Id Kah' mosque. The northwest city witnessed deadly ethnic unrest Monday which left 156 dead and over 1,000 injured. The conflict broke out on Sunday when the mainly Muslim Uighur minority took to the streets of Urumqi protesting 'discrimination under Chinese rule'. According to Chinese state media, "more than 200 rioters" gathered around the mosque last Monday but were later dispersed by police. Dissident sources, however, claimed that more than 100 Uighurs were killed in the city. Uighurs, make up around 90 percent of the population in Kashgar, a region that lies some 1,000 km (620 miles) southwest of Urumqi and has commonly been the scene of conflicts between the Iughur and the dominant Hans ethnicities. Last year in August, two Uighur men killed 17 policemen in what China described as an act of terrorism aimed at sabotaging the Beijing Olympics. On Friday, around 2,000 armed soldiers patrolled downtown Kashgar as foreigners in the city were advised against venturign out of their hotels.