China sentences 8 to death for attacks in Xinjiang

BEIJING: Eight persons were today sentenced to death for carrying out two of the most violent terrorist attacks in China's volatile Xinjiang region as authorities stepped up crackdown against the East Turkistan Islamic Movement.

Following their first trial, the Intermediate People's Court of Urumqi also sentenced another five people to death with a two-year reprieve, and four others were sentenced to imprisonment, local publicity department of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region said.

Xinjiang witnessed its bloodiest day in five years on May 22 when 39 people were killed and 94 were injured in an attack on a market in Urumqi.

On April 30, three people were killed and 79 were injured in a terror attack at a railway station in the city in which people were attacked with knives and daggers.

China blames ETIM, an al-Qaeda based organisation for fomenting the violence in the province which was on the boil for the past few years over native Uygur Muslim population opposition to the Han settlers from other provinces in China.

Xinjiang, restive over native Muslim Uygur's resentment over settlements of Hans, has witnessed a surge in terror attacks.