Police 'killed 12 during Urumqi ethnic riots'

Chinese police killed 12 people during July 5 rioting in the western city of Urumqi, a senior official said – a rare acknowledgement by the government that security forces opened fire in the worst ethnic clashes to hit the region in decades.

The unrest began when a peaceful protest by Muslim ethnic minority Uighurs turned violent after it was stopped by police.

The Uighurs went on a rampage, smashing windows, burning cars and beating Han Chinese, the nation’s dominant ethnic group.

Two days after the first rioting, vigilante groups of ethnic Han took to the streets and attacked Uighurs.

Xinjiang Governor Nur Bekri said police shot the “mobsters” after first firing warning shots, according to a report by the official Xinhua News Agency.

He apparently did not say which ethnic group the “mobsters” belonged to.

“The police showed as much restraint as possible during the unrest,” Mr Bekri was quoted as saying, adding that many police officers were injured, while one was killed.

The government first acknowledged that its security forces had opened fire more than a week after the rioting started, when police shot dead two Uighurs and wounded a third on July 13.

An Urumqi official said the Uighurs started fighting with police after officers tried to stop them from attacking a fellow Uighur.

Mr Bekri also said the death toll from the unrest had risen to 197. The government had previously said the rioting killed 192 and injured 1,721.