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http://www.phayul.com 31 dead, 90 injured in Urumqi blasts At least 31 people have been killed and over 90 injured in one of the deadliest “terrorist attacks” in China at an open air market in Urumqi, capital of the restive Xinjiang region earlier today. Two SUVs slammed into shoppers gathered at the market in Urumqi at 7:50 a.m. Thursday, and explosives were flung out of the vehicles, China's official news agency Xinhua said. China's Ministry of Public Security described the attack as "a serious violent terrorist incident". Chinese President Xi Jinping called for the “terrorists” behind it to be "severely" punished. Xinjiang, home to the Muslim Uighur minority, has seen a spate of attacks in the past, including riots in 2009 that left 200 people dead, mowing down of pedestrians in Tiananmen Square last year, killing five people, and knife attacks at railway stations in Urumqi and Kunming earlier this year. Information about incidents in the region, where ethnic tensions between Uighurs and Han Chinese continue, is tightly controlled by the government. China says it is pouring money into the region for development, but some Uighurs say their traditions deeply rooted in Islam are being crushed. The World Uyghur Congress said the authorities in the Chinese capital Beijing should not increase the crackdown in Xinjiang. A spokesman of the World Uyghur Congress had told the BBC that the violent incidents were a direct result of Beijing's policies in the region.
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