Police kill seven hostage-takers in Xinjiang

China said yesterday a police operation to free hostages in the restive Xinjiang region had left seven "terrorists" dead, but an exile group described the incident as a desperate protest by local Uighurs.
The incident is the latest reported violent confrontation in the region – home to roughly nine million Turkic-speaking Uighurs who have long bristled under Chinese rule – since three deadly attacks in July left dozens dead.
The Xinjiang government said on its official Twitter-like weibo account that a "violent terrorist group" kidnapped two people in the northwestern region's remote Pishan county late Wednesday night, prompting a stand-off with police.
During the stand-off, the kidnappers killed one police officer and wounded another. Police opened fire and killed seven of the suspects, and wounded and arrested four others, it added.
The two hostages were subsequently rescued, it said, without providing further details. It did not say whether the kidnappers were Uighurs.
But Dilxat Raxit, spokesman for the World Uighur Congress, an exile group, described the incident as a protest by local Uighurs prompted by mounting discontent over a police crackdown and religious repression in the area.
He said seven Uighurs were "publicly" shot dead, three seriously wounded, and another four lightly hurt, and added authorities were confiscating people's mobile phones yesterday.
"The local government recently started a 'strike hard' campaign, which resulted in the disappearances of several people. They were taken away by armed forces, who refused to say where they were," he added.
"The local government has also restricted local religious activities."
Police in Pishan and the Xinjiang government refused to comment when contacted by AFP, and the local government was not immediately available for comment.
Xinjiang – a resource-rich region that borders eight countries – has been the scene of sporadic bouts of violence, much of which has been blamed by Beijing on the "three forces" of extremism, separatism and terrorism.