13 dead, 3 injured in Xinjiang police station attack

Armored vehicles carrying armed police officers parade in Urumqi in China's northwestern Xinjiang region on May 23, 2014. [Photo/IC]

URUMQI -?Thirteen mobsters were killed and three policemen were injured Saturday morning in an attack on a police station in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the local government said.

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No civilians were hurt, according to the regional information office.

The gangsters drove a truck to ram the building of the public security bureau of Yecheng County in southern Xinjiang and set off explosives.

Police shot and killed 13 attackers at the scene. Three policemen were slightly injured.

Public security authorities are investigating the incident and local social order is normal.

Xinjiang is a remote region with more than half of its population ethnic minorities who hold Muslim beliefs.

Violent attacks in the name of "jihad" have been increasing since 2009 and are the biggest threat to the region, according to the regional public security department.

Yecheng in the region's Kashgar Prefecture is more than 1,500 kilometers southwest of the regional capital of Urumqi.

Xinjiang has stepped up anti-terrorism efforts following terrorist attacks on train stations in Kunming of Yunnan Province and Urumqi in the first half of this year.

Thirteen people were executed on June 16 in Xinjiang for terrorist attacks and violent crimes.

They were convicted of organizing, leading and participating in terrorist groups; murder; arson; theft; and illegal manufacture, storage and transportation of explosives, according to local courts.