Armed with only knives, the assailants struck at the coal mine in the dead of night, first killing the security guards and then setting upon the miners as they slept in their dormitory beds. Before the Sept. 18 rampage was over, more than 50 people were dead, at least five of them police officers, and dozens more had been wounded, according to victims’ relatives and residents.
Most of the victims were Han Chinese who had been lured to this desolate corner of the far west Xinjiang region by the prospect of steady work and decent pay.
The wanted posters displayed later in Baicheng suggest the attackers were ethnic Uighurs, all of whom apparently escaped into the craggy foothills of the Tianshan Mountains, not far from China’s border with Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.
Even as Baicheng County remains in a state of siege, with an enormous manhunt underway, the Chinese news media has yet to report on the massacre, and local officials, when asked about it, have denied that it even took place.
But the attack on the Sogan coal mine appears to be one of the deadliest acts of violence in Xinjiang in recent years, underscoring the challenges that Beijing faces as it tries to maintain order in a region nearly as large as Alaska. Full story...
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Most of the victims were Han Chinese who had been lured to this desolate corner of the far west Xinjiang region by the prospect of steady work and decent pay.
The wanted posters displayed later in Baicheng suggest the attackers were ethnic Uighurs, all of whom apparently escaped into the craggy foothills of the Tianshan Mountains, not far from China’s border with Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.
Even as Baicheng County remains in a state of siege, with an enormous manhunt underway, the Chinese news media has yet to report on the massacre, and local officials, when asked about it, have denied that it even took place.
But the attack on the Sogan coal mine appears to be one of the deadliest acts of violence in Xinjiang in recent years, underscoring the challenges that Beijing faces as it tries to maintain order in a region nearly as large as Alaska. Full story...
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