BEIJING: Forty "rioters" were killed in China's far-western Xinjiang region following a series of explosions last Sunday, the worst incident of violence in months, the regional government has said after a four-day news blackout.
Residents on Friday described heavy security in place days after the violence.
Six civilians, two police officers and two auxiliary police were also killed in the attacks in Xinjiang's Luntai county, with 54 civilians injured, the regional government's news portal Tianshan said late Thursday.
Two "rioters" were captured, it added, while the main suspect, whose name was given as Mamat Tursun, was shot dead.
Chinese state media had previously only stated that two people had been killed in the incident. The ruling Communist Party tightly restricts access to the restive region, and information is difficult to independently verify.
Such a delay in the release of details is not uncommon.
Staff at hotels in Luntai county contacted by AFP described a continuing heavy security presence.
"Security forces are still in the street," said one receptionist.
A woman who answered the phone at another inn also gave an account of security out in force, and that business had suffered as "lots of people don't come these days".
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