China: Killings in Xinjiang Stir Fears of Heightened Ethnic Tensions

At least four people were killed and eight injured in what appeared to be a knife fight in the city of Korla, a center of oil production in the western Chinese region of Xinjiang, regional officials said Friday. The outburst of violence on Thursday increased residents’ fears over a potential flare-up in ethnic tensions, a common occurrence in parts of Xinjiang where ethnic Uighur, a Turkic-speaking people, bridle at what they call discrimination by the Han Chinese, who rule China. The police ordered people to stay off the streets in parts of Korla after the fight, but the authorities had lifted that ban by Friday. It was unclear from initial reports what led to the dispute behind the violence — whether it was mainly rooted in ethnic conflict or primarily involved other matters, like money.
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