Five Chinese Police Reported Killed In Xinjiang

September 23, 2015

At least five police officers have been stabbed to death by alleged separatists in a knife attack at a coal mine in the far western Chinese region of Xinjiang.

Radio Free Asia reported on September 23 that the attack took place at the Sogan colliery in Aksu on September 18, according to police reports.

Dozens of others were reported injured in the incident.

A local government statement said the attack was a "well-prepared, large-scale attack by separatists against police officers and mine owners."

Radio Free Asia reported in June that at least 18 people died when ethnic Uyghurs attacked police at a traffic checkpoint in the city of Kashgar.

Tensions between native Muslim Uyghurs and the Han Chinese living in Xinjiang have resulted in violence in recent years that has killed hundreds of people.

The bloodshed has been blamed by Chinese officials on Islamic militants.

Exiled Uyghur groups and human rights activists say China's repressive policies in Xinjiang, which include strict controls on Islam and Uyghur culture, have provoked the unrest.

Based on reporting by Reuters and Radio Free Asia