A suspected bomb attack killed seven people and wounded 14 on Thursday in China’s far west Xinjiang, a region beset by ethnic conflict and separatist violence.
The explosion occurred on a three—wheeled vehicle on Thursday morning at a bridge in Aksu city in southwestern Xinjiang, said Hou Hanmin, a spokeswoman for the Xinjiang government. She said the blast is being treated as a criminal case.
“It’s still unclear what material on that tricycle caused the explosion.... The police apprehended one suspect. They’re still investigating the case,” Ms. Hou said.
Aksu is about 650 kilometers (400 miles) from the regional capital of Urumqi.
The official Xinhua News Agency reported that 12 people were hurt. No reason was given for the discrepancy, and that report did not give further details.
Xinjiang has been the site of ethnic conflict in recent years, including riots last summer when long—standing tensions between the Uighurs, a largely Muslim ethnic group, and the majority Han Chinese flared into open violence in Urumqi. The government said 197 people were killed. Hundreds of people were arrested and about two dozen sentenced to death.
Xinjiang Governor Nur Bekri, speaking at a news conference on Thursday before the explosion was reported, said the government was battling separatist forces in Xinjiang.
“I believe we face a long and fierce and very complicated struggle. Separatism in Xinjiang has a very long history, it was there in the past, it is still here now and it will continue in the future,” Mr. Nur said.
“The July 5 incident (last year) was not an ethnic conflict, nor it was a religious—related issue, it was a serious violent incident led by external separatist forces,” he said.
