Two Uighur exile groups on Thursday urged an independent investigation of the death of 27 people in China’s far western region of Xinjiang.
Chinese state media said at least 27 people died after attacks on police stations, a local government building and a construction site early Wednesday in Xinjiang’s Lukqun township, some 250 kilometres south-east of the regional capital, Urumqi.
Police “opened fire and shot dead 10 rioters” after the assailants had “stabbed at people and set fire to police cars,” killing 17 people, reports quoted regional officials as saying.
Some state media called the attacks a “terrorist incident,” but the reports gave few details of the violence, while the local and central governments made no statement on the attacks.
