BEIJING — Three assailants with knives rushed into a card room to attack people in China’s western region of Xinjiang, in a clash that drew armed security forces, a local government’s website reported. Two of the attackers were killed and the third one wounded and captured.
The report gave no details on a motive for the Sunday evening attack in Hotan city in the region’s south. The report on the Hotan government’s website said the civilians who had been playing chess fought back and sounded an alarm, which led people from neighboring businesses and others to come and encircle the attackers with unspecified weapons. Armed patrol forces soon arrived and brought the attackers under control with the help of locals. Two died and the third was wounded and arrested, it said, adding that four civilians were wounded.
Calls to Hotan’s publicity department and police rang unanswered Monday.
The attack came amid a crackdown in Xinjiang following high-profile attacks on civilians. They have been blamed on extremists from the region’s Uighur minority seeking to overthrow Chinese rule. Last month, a market bombing killed 43 people in Xinjiang’s capital, Urumqi.(AP)
