By ANTARA News/Reuters,
Beijing : A series of blasts killed at least two people in China`s restive farwestern Xinjiang on Sunday, nearly a week after an attack in the region killed 16 and on the second day of the Olympics in Beijing, state media said.
The blasts in downtown Kuqa, a major town in southern Xinjiang more than 3,000 km (1,860 miles) from Beijing, occurred before dawn, Xinhua news agency quoted witnesses as saying, adding they saw flashes of fire and heard sporadic gunshots.
China has called Uighur militants in Xinjiang campaigning for a separate nation of “East Turkestan” a top threat to the Games.
Police had cordoned off the area where the explosions occurred. “Local military sources confirmed the incident and said the military forces have been put on alert,” Xinhua said.
Security officials in the regional capital of Urumqi were not immediately available for comment.
An attack at a border police station in Xinjiang, China`s far western region, killed 16 police on Monday. Two Muslim Uighur suspects have been detained.
Many of Xinjiang`s 8 million largely Muslim Uighurs chafe at the strict controls on religion that China enforces and resent influxes of Han Chinese migrant workers and businesses.
Uighurs make up slightly less than half of the region`s people, and most of the rest are Han.
Human rights critics and exiled Uighurs say Beijing has exaggerated the threat of violence in Xinjiang and stirred discontent by encouraging the migration of millions of Han Chinese into the region.
Uighurs now make up slightly less than half of its 20 million people, according to official statistics.