A clash at a police station that left at least four people dead in western China’s restive Xinjiang region was ‘an organised terrorist attack’, a government official was quoted saying in state media on Tuesday.
Police in Xinjiang gunned down several rioters who attacked a police station, Xinhua said on Tuesday, the worst violence Xinjiang has experienced in about a year.
Hou Hanmin, chief of the regional information office, said it was ‘an organised terrorist attack,’ according to The Global Times, a popular tabloid owned by the Chinese Communist Party’s mouthpiece, The People’s Daily.
‘The rioters carried explosive devices and grenades. They first broke into the offices of the local administration of industry and commerce and the taxation bureau that are close to the police station,’ Mr Hou said. ‘They injured two persons there. When they realised the targets were wrong, they started to attack the police station from the ground floor to the second floor where they showed a flag with separatist messages.’
The attackers set the police station on fire before killing hostages during a stand-off with armed police, Mr Hou said.
The Straits Times