Uighurs claim 400 killed in unrest in western China | The Australian: "POLICE killed 400 Uighurs in the capital of China's Xinjiang region during ethnic unrest there, exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer claimed yesterday.
Ms Kadeer said Uighur sources within 'East Turkestan', the separatist name for the northwest region, had told her 400 Uighurs had died 'as a result of police shootings and beatings' in Urumqi since violence erupted there on Sunday.
Writing in The Wall Street Journal Asia, the president of the World Uighur Congress said unrest was spreading across the region and unconfirmed reports indicated more than 100 Uighurs had been killed in Kashgar, another major city in Xinjiang.
Chinese authorities have said 156 people died in Sunday's violence in Urumqi. They have not made clear how many of the victims were Han Chinese and how many were Uighur, or how they died.
'Uighurs have contacted me to report that the Chinese authorities are in the process of conducting a house-to-house search of Uighur homes and are arresting male Uighurs,' Ms Kadeer wrote.
'They say that Uighurs are afraid to walk the streets in the capital of their homeland.'
China has blamed Ms Kadeer for instigating the violence, which she strongly denies.
In Urumqi yesterday, hundreds of paramilitary police guarded the main roads to Uighur neighbourhoods and the central square, where the first riots began. Most were armed with shields and clubs, while a few had assault rifles fixed with bayonets."
Ms Kadeer said Uighur sources within 'East Turkestan', the separatist name for the northwest region, had told her 400 Uighurs had died 'as a result of police shootings and beatings' in Urumqi since violence erupted there on Sunday.
Writing in The Wall Street Journal Asia, the president of the World Uighur Congress said unrest was spreading across the region and unconfirmed reports indicated more than 100 Uighurs had been killed in Kashgar, another major city in Xinjiang.
Chinese authorities have said 156 people died in Sunday's violence in Urumqi. They have not made clear how many of the victims were Han Chinese and how many were Uighur, or how they died.
'Uighurs have contacted me to report that the Chinese authorities are in the process of conducting a house-to-house search of Uighur homes and are arresting male Uighurs,' Ms Kadeer wrote.
'They say that Uighurs are afraid to walk the streets in the capital of their homeland.'
China has blamed Ms Kadeer for instigating the violence, which she strongly denies.
In Urumqi yesterday, hundreds of paramilitary police guarded the main roads to Uighur neighbourhoods and the central square, where the first riots began. Most were armed with shields and clubs, while a few had assault rifles fixed with bayonets."
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