Two people were killed and “many” injured as explosions erupted in multiple locations in China’s Xinjiang on Sunday, according to authorities in the ethnically divided region that is on edge after a series of violent incidents this year.
The blasts struck at least three locations in Luntai County in the region’s south, including a shopping area, the Xinjiang government’s Tianshan Web portal said yesterday.
The report did not say what caused the explosions or give a precise number of injured.
Clashes between locals and security forces in Xinjiang — located in China’s far west and home to the mostly Muslim Uighur minority — as well as attacks targeting civilians have killed more than 200 people in the past year.
Beijing blames the violence on “terrorist” groups seeking independence for the region, while rights groups say that cultural and religious oppression of Uighurs has fuelled resentment.
The attacks have grown in scale and sophistication over the past year and have spread outside the region.
Among the most shocking attacks was a May assault on a market in the regional capital, Urumqi, where more than 30 people were killed, and a deadly rampage by knife-wielding assailants at a train station in Kunming, Sichuan Province, in March, which left 29 dead.
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