Chinese officials: 2 men killed, 1 wounded by police

URUMQI, China -- Police fatally shot two Uighur men and wounded a third Monday in western China, where violence has persisted despite the massive numbers of troops sent to restore calm more than a week after deadly ethnic rioting.

It is the first time the Chinese government has acknowledged that its security forces opened fire since communal violence hit Urumqi, the capital of the restive Xinjiang region, on July 5. At least 184 people have been reported killed and another 1,680 wounded.

The midafternoon shooting sent residents into homes and shops for cover and bystanders hitting the ground. The incident underscored how far authorities are from imposing order between the Muslim Uighurs and the Han Chinese, the majority ethnic group.

Despite the flood of security forces sent into Urumqi, they have yet to end the violence and halt all the Uighur protests.

State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said the United States had officials in the region but was still gathering information about what was happening. He said U.S. officials have expressed concern to Chinese officials.

"We are urging China to handle the situation as they go forward in a transparent manner," Kelly said. "As they work to restore order, we believe that it's important that they respect the legal rights of all Chinese citizens."

He called on China to respect the right of Uighurs to practice their religion and not to put restrictions on their religious activity.

An official with the Urumqi city government, who gave his surname as Fan, said police on patrol about 2:55 p.m. had seen three Uighur men attacking a fourth Uighur with long knives and batons. When they tried to break up the fight, the three turned against the officers, he said.

"The police fired into the air for warning, but it's not effective. Therefore, the police shot them, according to law," Fan said. Two of them died on the spot while the wounded man was taken to the nearby People's Hospital where his condition was unknown.

The gunfire rang out near one of the city's main Uighur neighborhoods, shattering the relative calm of the afternoon. Witness accounts corroborated some of the police report but also differed in details.

Zhang Ming, a construction worker at a building site near the incident, said he saw three men with knives come out of a nearby mosque and attack a group of paramilitary police standing in a cluster along the road. Riot police then chased them, beat them and fired shots, he said.

An Associated Press reporter at the scene saw police in bulletproof vests wielding pistols, shotguns and batons chasing down a man who appeared to be a Uighur. They surrounded him and began kicking him and beating him with batons. Gunfire was heard before and during the brief incident, though it was unclear if the man had been shot.

Photos show one policeman raising his rifle to strike a man. Lying at their feet, the man, who was wearing a blue shirt, had blood on his right leg. Police quickly formed a ring around him and raised their guns skyward toward surrounding buildings as if worried about retaliation.

An armored personnel carrier and paramilitary police arrived, and police waved their guns and shouted for people to get off the streets.

A few hours later, a splotch of blood was still on the street, the stain faded from apparent scrubbing. Squads of helmeted riot police took up positions on the street, which was closed to traffic.

A Uighur man, who was visiting his mother in the neighborhood, said that he heard the gunfire but did not see the incident. Still, he said he had no doubt that there will be more violence.

"It makes me very sad to see this happen. This is obviously not something that will end in just one, two or three days," he said, not wanting to give his name for fear of government retaliation. "There are no human rights in China. They catch Uighurs and beat them and take them away and nobody knows."

China's leaders have sought to play down tensions between ethnic groups, dispatching Politburo member Zhou Yongkang to spread the message that stability in Xinjiang was the "most important and pressing task that has overwhelming priority," the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

The Uighurs, who number 9 million in Xinjiang, have complained about an influx of Han Chinese and government restrictions on their Muslim religion. They accuse the Han of discrimination and the Communist Party of trying to erase their language and culture.

Han Chinese, many of whom were encouraged to emigrate here by the government, believe the Uighurs should be grateful for Xinjiang's rapid economic development, which has brought new schools, highways, airports, railways, natural gas fields and oil wells to the sprawling, rugged region the size of Texas.

The distrust remains a crucial barrier, and the latest incident is unlikely to smooth relations.

Gardner Bovingdon, a Uighur expert at Indiana University, said he doubts the Uighur community will mount a major protest in the next few days, given the government's current clampdown.

"I suspect there's going to be quiet resentment. I think really what we're going to see for the next bit is kind of lockdown -- they go into martial law," he said.

Since last week, tens of thousands of Chinese troops have poured into Urumqi and other parts of Xinjiang to impose order. Checkpoints have been set up and police searched buses for any suspects. People were ordered to carry identification for police checks when traveling in Urumqi.

On Monday, helmeted riot police remained in the central square while small groups of paramilitary police stood guard on street corners. Military helicopters flew overhead.

The July 5 violence had begun when Uighurs who were protesting last month's deaths of fellow factory workers in a brawl in southern China clashed with police. Crowds scattered throughout the city, attacking ethnic Han Chinese and burning cars.

Of the 184 reported killed July 5, the government has said 137 were Han Chinese and 46 were Uighurs, along with one minority Hui Muslim. Uighurs say they believe many more from their ethnic group died in the government crackdown.

Although much remains unknown about how police reimposed order last week, some security forces have seemingly acted with great discipline. For example, paramilitary police nearly came to blows with Uighur women protesting the arrests of family members last week, but they pulled back at the last moment.

Among the mixture of troops on the streets are paramilitary police with shields and batons, and anti-riot forces and SWAT teams with guns.

There are complaints among Han Chinese that the police were slow to protect them; Uighurs say police fired on people during the riot.

Some of the tension had just begun to lift in Urumqi on Monday morning. Most roads to the Grand Bazaar market had reopened. In Uighur districts, more shops lifted their shutters, vendors pushed carts full of peaches, and watermelon sellers sliced up their wares.

But the afternoon gunfire changed that, said Ehsanjiang, a 37-year-old Uighur who lives in an apartment complex.

"In the past few days, everything seemed peaceful and safe, and then this afternoon something had to happen again," he said, holding his 2-year-old son in his lap. "I wonder when it will be safe again."