'Terror' strikes in Xinjiang leave 14 dead
The restive western region of Xinjiang was rocked by two separate attacks in its chief Muslim city, Kashgar , in less than 24 hours.
They left at least 14 people dead and dozens injured.
Hou Hanmin, the regional government's spokeswoman, told the Post both strikes - one late on Saturday night and the other yesterday afternoon - were terrorist attacks.
The region was hit by similar violence last month. On July 18, 14 rioters targeted a police station in Hotan city, about 500km southeast of Kashgar, killing four people. The rioters were shot dead by local police.
Yesterday's attack took place in a major shopping street at about 4.30pm. Twelve people 'hacked to death or injured more than 10 pedestrians and policemen', Xinhua said.
It was not immediately clear how many were killed. Local sources earlier said three people died in a blast, but witnesses said the victims were hacked to death by the rioters, Xinhua reported.
Police shot dead four suspects and arrested four others, but four managed to flee, Xinhua said.
Residents said the scene was chaotic and security forces were patrolling the city centre.
'Shops around the area have all been closed,' a taxi driver told the Post over the phone.
In Saturday night's attack, at least seven people were killed. Two knife-wielding men hijacked a truck at 11.45pm and rammed it into a crowd on a busy street lined with food stalls. The pair jumped out of the truck and started hacking pedestrians with the knives, Xinhua reported.
Six bystanders were killed and 28 injured. One of the two attackers was killed by the crowd, and the other was arrested by police, Xinhua said.
Two of those killed worked for a property development company. The company's deputy manager, Yang Qin, told the Post one of her colleagues was crushed by the truck, and the other died after being stabbed in the heart.
'He rushed out of the office to help when he saw the thugs attacking the crowd,' Yang said. 'He held back one of the attackers, but the other one stabbed his heart. I feel the previous attacks were targeted at the police and government, but now they are targeting ordinary people.'
Two blasts were heard about an hour before the incident: the first from a minivan and the second from the food street, a popular gathering spot for Han Chinese workers.
Hou said the attackers on Saturday night were Uygurs, while the identities of yesterday's attackers were still being verified.
