Chinese police kill 8 attackers in Xinjiang region

Police shot dead eight attackers during a "terrorist attack" during an assault on a police station in northwest China's Muslim-majority Xinjiang region, state media reported Monday, two weeks after 16 people were killed in another violent clash there. The group of nine "attackers" carrying knives attacked a police station in Yarkand County of Kashgar prefecture in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region at around 6:30 a.m. (2230 Sunday GMT), throwing explosive devices and setting police cars on fire, according to the Tianshan Net run by the provincial government. One of the attackers was captured alive, it said. The incident comes after 16 people, including two police officers, died in a violent clash in Xinjian, when police were attacked by several "thugs" armed with explosive devices and knives on December 15. About 41.5 percent of Xinjiang's 21 million population are Uygurs, a largely Muslim ethnic group. Located in a volatile region, Xinjiang has been battling separatism, extremism and terrorism since China took control of the area in 1949. During its most deadly unrest in decades, 197 people were killed and about 1,700 others injured in the July 2009 riot.