This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/22/deadly-bombing-in-xinjiang-china

The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Deadly bombing in Xinjiang, China Deadly bombing in Xinjiang, China
(about 2 hours later)
Explosives thrown from two vehicles that rammed an open market in China's western region of Xinjiang killed and wounded an unknown number of people, the official Xinhua news agency and a witness have said. At least 31 people were killed when two off-road vehicles ploughed through a marketplace in China's Xinjiang region while the occupants threw explosives out of the windows, the country's Xinhua news agency has reported.
China has blamed a series of knife and bomb attacks in recent months on separatist militants from Xinjiang, the traditional home of the ethnic Muslim Uighurs. The death toll from the attack in the city of Urumqi makes it the bloodiest in a series of violent incidents blamed on separatist Uighur Muslims.
The cross-country vehicles rammed into shoppers in an open market in the Xinjiang capital, Urumqi, Xinhua reported, citing witness reports. Explosives were thrown out and one of the vehicles exploded. Xinhua said one of the vehicles exploded and quoted an eyewitness as
A business owner told Xinhua he heard a dozen big bangs. The blasts occurred at an open-air morning market near Renmin Park in downtown Urumqi. Flames and heavy smoke were seen nearby while the area had been cordoned off after the blast. saying there were up to a dozen blasts in all. There were more than 90 people injured.
Urumqi was the scene of a railway station bomb attack late in April that killed three people, including two attackers, and injured 79.
The blasts occurred at an open-air morning market near Renmin Park in downtown Urumqi. Flames and heavy smoke were seen nearby while the area had been cordoned off after the blast.
Photos posted on social media, purportedly of the blast but unverified by Reuters, showed a column of smoke and chaos at the market, with bloodied people lying on the tree-lined road near small stands selling fruit, vegetables and eggs.Photos posted on social media, purportedly of the blast but unverified by Reuters, showed a column of smoke and chaos at the market, with bloodied people lying on the tree-lined road near small stands selling fruit, vegetables and eggs.
"There were two vehicles that drove like crazy toward the morning market ... there were definitely people killed," a witness who declined to give his name told Reuters by telephone."There were two vehicles that drove like crazy toward the morning market ... there were definitely people killed," a witness who declined to give his name told Reuters by telephone.
"The market was total chaos, hawkers and shoppers started running everywhere... it was definitely a terrorist act. I'm so angry." "The market was total chaos, hawkers and shoppers started running everywhere ... it was definitely a terrorist act. I'm so angry."
Xinjiang has been plagued by violence for years but rights activists and exile groups say the government's own heavyhanded policies in the region have sown the seeds of unrest. Xinjiang has been plagued by violence for years but rights activists and exile groups say the government's own heavyhanded policies in the region have sown the seeds of unrest. China has blamed recent knife and bomb attacks in Xinjiang and elsewhere on ethnic Muslim Uighurs.
Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report