China: Police Kill 13 in Attack in Xinjiang Region

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/21/world/asia/china-police-kill-attackers-in-xinjiang-region.html

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Police officers shot dead 13 attackers on Saturday who rammed a vehicle into the main police station of Yecheng County, in the region of Xinjiang in far western China, according to state news media reports. Three police officers were lightly wounded in the attack, which also involved the detonation of explosive devices, the reports said. Violent episodes in Xinjiang have become more frequent in the last couple years, and attacks on police stations appear to be on the rise. Yecheng County is an area that is heavily populated by Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking ethnic group who in in recent years have often clashed in Xinjiang with ethnic Han, the dominant group in China. Many Uighurs say they face discrimination, and some call for an independent Uighur state to be carved from in Xinjiang and called East Turkestan. In recent months, there have been attacks across China that state news media reports have attributed to Uighur militants.