Sixteen people have been killed in violence in China’s volatile western region of Xinjiang, state media reported Monday.
Two police officers chasing suspects came under attack late Sunday from people with machetes and explosive devices in Shufu County, near the city of Kashgar, said Tianshan, a news website run by the Xinjiang government.
In the clash that ensued, two police officers died and 14 “gang members” were shot and killed, Tianshan reported. It described what happened as a “terrorist attack.”
Police detained two suspects, the report said, and the violence is under further investigation.
Deadly unrest frequently breaks out in Xinjiang, a large, resource-rich region that is home to the Uyghurs, a Turkic-speaking, predominantly Muslim ethnic group.
The arrival of waves of Han Chinese people over the decades has fueled tensions with the Uyghurs. Chinese authorities have cracked down heavily on violence involving Uyghurs, deepening resentment.
The Tianshan report Monday didn’t specify the ethnicity of the people involved in the clash with police.
Beijing accuses some Uyghur groups of trying to establish an independent state.
