Two shot dead in renewed Xinjiang unrest

By David Gray

URUMQI, China (Reuters) - Chinese police shot dead two people on Monday in renewed unrest in the far northwestern region of Xinjiang, state media said, after at least 184 people died in riots last week.

The official Xinhua news agency said the two people killed in the regional capital Urumqi were Uighur. Police were trying to stop them attacking another Uighur when the security forces opened fire, the report said. Another Uighur was injured.

"An initial investigation found that the three people were attacking the fourth person with clubs and knives at 2:55 p.m. near the People's Hospital at Jiefang Nanlu," Xinhua said. "Police on patrol fired warning shots before shooting at the three suspects."

Of the official death toll from the July 5 riots, 137 were Han Chinese, who form the majority of China's 1.3 billion population, and 46 were Uighur, a Muslim people native to Xinjiang and culturally tied to Central Asia and Turkey.

Uighurs attacked Han Chinese in Urumqi that day after police tried to break up a protest against fatal attacks on Uighur workers at a factory in south China. Han Chinese in Urumqi launched revenge attacks later in the week.

Zhou Yongkang, China's top security official, said that while the situation was improving, the government could not rest on its laurels.

"Currently, various instability factors still exist and the task of maintaining stability is arduous," he was quoted as saying in Urumqi.

"The importance and urgency in ensuring Xinjiang social order should be fully learned, and the fight against separatism and terrorism in the region is a long-term and acute task."