Blasts rock Xinjiang again as 31 killed in latest 'terrorist incident'

Attackers killed at least 31 people on Thursday when they ploughed two off-road​ vehicles into a market and threw explosives in the capital of China’s Xinjiang region.

More than 90 people were wounded.

Authorities called it the latest “severe terrorist incident” to hit the Muslim Uighur homeland.

Pictures posted on Sina Weibo, a Chinese equivalent of Twitter, showed victims lying in a tree-lined street. Other images showed smoke billowing over market stalls behind a police roadblock.  

Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to “severely punish violent terrorists", maintain a “strike first” policy and “crack down on them with a heavy fist", state broadcaster CCTV said.  

A witness told the official news agency Xinhua he heard a dozen “bangs” during the attack at about 7.50am, when Chinese morning markets are crowded with shoppers.  

“I saw flames and heavy smoke as vehicles and goods were on fire while vendors escaped leaving their goods behind,” wrote one Weibo poster who said he was less than 100m from the scene.

Source: AFP