Reports from China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region said that at least 19 people died in weekend violence. On Saturday night at least 7 people were killed after protests erupted. Chinese and Uighur sources presented different versions of events. Bikyamasr.com could not verify the accuracy of either story. In the first attack just before midnight Saturday, the perpetrators hijacked a truck that had been stopped at a red light, killed the driver, then used the truck to plow into a crowd of bystanders, Chinese media said. The hijackers were reported to have jumped out of the truck, wielding knives and stabbing at random. Eight people were reported to have been killed, including the driver. Then, on Sunday afternoon, a bomb exploded at a downtown restaurant, apparently set off as a decoy. “When police officers and firefighters rushed to the scene, a group of five suspects rushed out and started to stab civilians,” the website of Kashgar's local government reported Monday. The local government said 6 civilians were killed, along with five suspects, one of whom was reported to have confessed before his death. “According to the confession of one of the suspects, this group's leader sneaked across the border into Pakistan and received training of making guns and explosives from the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement,” the local government said. “Its members all have extreme religious beliefs and are determined to continue the ‘holy war.' They made explosives and planned to carry out violent terrorist attacks.” Dilxat Raxit, a spokesman for the World Uyghur Congress, disputed China's account. He said the conflict started with a brawl between local Uighurs and municipal police and that most of the dead were police officers. “The underlying cause of this incident is the current repressive Chinese rule,” said Raxit in a phone interview with The Los Angeles Times from Sweden, where he lives in exile. BM
