129 killed, 816 injured in China's Xinjiang violence: Xinhua News Agency

The violence in Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has left 129 people dead and injured 816 others, Xuinhua News Agency quoted the regional public security department as saying Monday.

129 killed, 816 injured in China's Xinjiang violence: Xinhua News Agency ảnh 1
Firemen put out a fire in Dawannanlu Street in Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on July 5, 2009. (Photo: Xinhua)

Police have arrested several hundred participants, including more than ten key figures who fanned the unrest on Sunday, the Xinjiang Public Security Department said.

Police are still searching for about 90 other key figures in the city, it added.

China says a riot that shook the capital of western Xinjiang region Sunday was a plot against its power, after at least three people died in the eruption of ethnic unrest and authorities launched a crackdown.

Reuters said the government claim that the unrest was the work of extremist forces abroad, signaling a security crackdown in the already tense and strategic region near Pakistan and central Asia.

"After the (Shaoguan) incident, the three forces abroad strived to beat this up and seized it as an opportunity to attack us, inciting street protests," Nuer Baikeli, governor of Xinjiang, said in a speech shown on Xinjiang television.

The "three forces" refer to groups the government says engage in separatism, militant action and religious extremism.

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