Police in western China’s restive Xinjiang on Monday “gunned down” several rioters who attacked a police station and killed at least four people, though an exile group said the incident started when police fired on peaceful protesters.
The violence was the worst Xinjiang has experienced in about a year. Last August, seven Chinese military police were killed when a member of the Uighur minority rammed them with an explosives-laden vehicle in the Xinjiang border region.
State television said the latest incident took place in the desert city of Hotan when a mob attacked a police station, taking hostages and setting it on fire.
Two hostages, a paramilitary policeman and a guard died in the violence, as well as several of the attackers, it reported. Six hostages were freed.
“Police gunned down several rioters who attacked a police station and killed four people in Hotan city,” the official Xinhua news agency said.
“Rioters broke into the police station shortly after 12 p.m. (0400 GMT). They assaulted the police, took hostages and set fire to the station,” it added, citing the Ministry of Public Security.
“The police quickly converged on the scene and shot a number of rioters while freeing six hostages.”
The situation has now been bought “under control”, the state television said, and a team from the state anti-terrorism office was on its way to the scene.
The Xinjiang government was not immediately available for comment. Dilxat Raxit of the Germany-based World Uyghur Congress said residents in Hotan had told his group that police opened fire on a peaceful protest, leading to fighting between the two sides.
