18 killed in Uighur knife and gun attack in China

From The Hindu

At least 18 people were killed when ethnic Uighurs attacked police with knives and bombs after speeding through a traffic checkpoint in a car in China’s troubled Xinjiang region, Radio Free Asia reported on Wednesday.

The attack took place on Monday at the beginning of the Muslim fasting month of Ramzan in Xinjiang’s Kashgar city, an RFA Uighur service said. Tensions in the southern city between Muslim Uighurs, who call the region home, and the majority Han Chinese have led to bloodshed in recent years.

Armed police responded to the attack and killed 15 suspects ‘designated as terrorists’, said RFA. .

However, an unnamed retired government worker was quoted as saying that he had heard from a police officer that “28 people were killed in the incident, including six attackers and three police, while the others were all bystanders.” 

China’s tightly-controlled state media has so far not reported the attack.