50 Reported Slain in Ethnic Unrest in China’s Northwest

Two envoys sent to calm Islamic unrest in China’s remote northwest were slain, and in subsequent riots security forces killed about 50 people, Western travelers said Tuesday, quoting sources in the area.

But Xinjiang regional officials, contacted by telephone from Beijing, repeatedly declined to comment on Western media reports that troops had crushed a riot near the ancient Silk Road city of Kashi (Kashgar) last week.

Swedish tourists Jan Arell and Karin Teghammar said in Beijing that, according to unconfirmed accounts, trouble flared in a town about 30 miles from Kashi after the Kirghiz community was prevented from building mosques.

Two Chinese negotiators sent to the town, near Kashi’s airport, were killed after talks became deadlocked. Riots then erupted and troops suppressed them, killing about 50 people, the Swedish couple said, quoting local sources who could not be identified.

A Western diplomat in Beijing said he had heard similar reports.

The disturbances occurred in Kashi, Hotan and one other city in the remote southwest section of Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, said the source, who had been in Urumqi, the regional capital.