Policeman shot dead in shoot-out with Uygurs in China

Two people died in a shoot-out between Uygurs and police officers in Henan province and at least two Uygurs were on the run, US-based Radio Free Asia said yesterday.

More than 10 shots were fired in the skirmish near an antique market in Zhengzhou late on Monday, leaving a Uygur and a police officer dead, the report said.

One of the Uygurs fled in a red Nissan vehicle while another took off in a white Hyundai car, taxi drivers and traffic police officers said.

A hotel worker said police had ordered them not to accept guests from Xinjiang and to report "any abnormalities".

There were no official reports on the shooting, and the cause is not yet known. The provincial government, municipal government and police could not be reached for comment.

Ethnic disputes involving Uygurs are not limited to the Xinjiang region. Knife-wielding Uygurs injured at least nine people at a railway station in Guangzhou in March.

A year before that, knife-wielding assailants said to be from a separatist "terrorist gang" from Xinjiang slashed people at a railway station in Kunming in an attack that left 29 people dead and more than 140 others injured.

Authorities blamed that attack on separatist militants from the restive western region of Xinjiang.

Last month, dozens of people were jailed in Xinjiang for cases involving illegal border crossings, state media reported, saying they sought to wage "holy war" and had committed crimes including organising or funding "terrorist groups".

Beijing says some people are trafficked across the border and end up fighting for groups such as Islamic State.