Riots in China's Xinjiang region

Many die during riots in China's Xinjiang region: state media
Marianne Barriaux (AFP)

BEIJING, China — Three people were killed and more than 20 others injured as rioters swept through the capital of China's mainly Muslim Xinjiang region on Sunday, state media reported.

• China says 140 killed in riots in west
  
  The dead were from China's majority Han Chinese ethnic group, according to the official Xinhua news agency, with activist groups and a witness saying the violence in Urumqi city pitted thousands of Muslim Uighurs [prounounced wee-gurs] against police. The unrest is the latest in more than a year of violence to hit Xinjiang, home to about eight million Uighurs -- many of whom say they have suffered political and religious persecution under Han Chinese rule for decades.
  
  Citing local government officials, Xinhua said the rioters "illegally gathered in several downtown places and engaged in beating, smashing, looting, and burning." It said many motor vehicles were burned in the unrest on Sunday afternoon.

In a parallel to accusations about the Dalai Lama, the regional government said the unrest was "masterminded" by the World Uighur Congress led by Rebiya Kadeer, who lives in exile in the United States, Xinhua reported early Monday. The government did not say how many people were involved or how many had been arrested, it said.

But the eyewitness, a Han Chinese bar owner in the city center where the riots took place, who refused to be named, told AFP there were around 3,000 Uighur protesters and some were armed with wooden batons and knives. More>>