Beijing: Chinese police on Friday shot dead nine suspected militants and captured another in northwestern China`s restive Xinjiang region, which has witnessed brazen terror attacks by native Uygur separatists in recent times.
The incident happened in Hotan Prefecture as violence escalated in the border province.
The suspects were identified by police on July 27 while they were investigating a terrorist group, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
According to the report, more than 30,000 volunteers helped police track down the suspects hiding in a corn field in Purgakqi Township of Karakax County.
Officers chased the suspects to an abandoned house, where they resisted arrest by throwing explosives into the crowd.
Police fired back, killing nine of them and capturing one, the report said.
The incident follows the killing of a well-known pro-Beijing moderate cleric, Jume Tahir,?of China`s largest Eidgah Mosque in the city of Kashgar.
Two alleged attackers were killed by police and another captured.
On Monday, at least 32 people were killed by knife-weilding militants in Kashgar`s Yarkand, or Shache in Xinjiang.
China accuses East Turkestan Islamic Movement, an al-Qaeda supported outfit, for the attacks in and out of Xinjiang, where Uygurs resent settlements of Hans from other provinces.
Xinjiang has witnessed a spate of terror attacks in recent times over the issue.
Uygurs are a Turkic-speaking Muslims with ethnic fraternity in Turkey, bordering Syria.
