50 die in serial blasts in China’s Xinjiang region

Beijing: In a major “terrorist” attack, 50 people, including 40 “rioters”, were killed in a series of explosions targeting a fair and police stations in China’s restive Xinjiang province where the country is battling an upsurge in separatist violence by ethnic Muslim Uygurs.

Forty rioters died in a series of explosions in Luntai County of northwest China’s Xinjiang on Sunday, state-run Xinhua news agency reported on Thursday providing sketchy details about the deadly attack.

Also six civilians and four policemen were killed in the explosions. The blasts hit a shop, an open fair and two police stations around 5 pm on Sunday,  the agency said.

Xinjiang police said it was an “organised and serious terrorist” attack. China blames the al-Qaeda-backed East Turkestan Islamic Movement for instigating the violence.