The Ministry of Public Security called it a "violent terrorist incident." There are periodic outbreaks of violence in Xinjiang, which is home to the Muslim Uighur minority group. Last month, a bomb attack at a station in Urumqi killed three people and injured dozens more. China blamed the attack on Uighur separatists.
Information about incidents in the region, where ethnic tensions between Uighurs and Han Chinese continue, is tightly controlled.
Pictures on weibo - China's equivalent of Twitter - taken by eyewitnesses appeared to show that Thursday's attack happened at one end of a busy market street lined with stalls selling vegetables.
Local media said eyewitnesses heard multiple explosions. Xinjiang lies in China's far west, bordering Central Asia. About 45% of its residents are Uighurs, who are Turkic Muslims. The region has recently seen large-scale inwards migration from Han Chinese.
China says it is pouring money into the region to improve livelihoods, but some Uighurs say their traditions - including religious freedom - are being crushed by tight Chinese control. The attack at Urumqi station came just after Chinese President Xi Jinping had visited the region.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
