There are sporadic outbreaks of violence in Xinjiang, where there are ethnic tensions between Muslim Uighur and Han Chinese communities. Confirming reports from the region is difficult because information is tightly controlled.
The Xinhua news agency report, citing local officials, said rioters stabbed people and set police cars alight.
Seventeen people, including nine security personnel and eight civilians, were killed before police shot dead 10 of the rioters, it said. At least three others were injured and were being treated in hospital, it added.
The Xinhua report did not provide any information on the ethnicity of those involved in the riot or on what sparked it.
But Dilxat Raxit, a spokesperson for the World Uighur Congress, an umbrella organisation of Uighur groups, told the Associated Press news agency the violence had been caused by the Chinese government’s “sustained repression and provocation” of the Uighur community.
Uighurs make up about 45% of Xinjiang‘s population, but say an influx of Han Chinese residents has marginalized their traditional culture.
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reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com