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Two armed Uygurs shot dead in Urumqi
By Hu Yinan and Cui Jia (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-07-14 07:32

URUMQI: Police shot dead two armed Uygurs and injured another in the regional capital, where 184 people were killed in riots a week ago.

A statement issued by the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region government said the incident happened at 2:55 pm Monday.

Two armed Uygurs shot dead in Urumqi

Police spotted the three Uygurs, armed with long knives and batons, attacking another Uygur during a routine patrol at a hospital on Jiefangnan Road, it said.

The police asked the men to drop their weapons and surrender but they refused and turned violent.

The men remained a threat to the police even after officers fired warning shots into the air. The police shot the suspects in accordance with the law, the government said.

Two of the men were pronounced dead at the scene; the injured Uygur was hospitalized, the statement said.

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The incident happened as police were easing security in the city, where a relative calm had descended as more roads reopened and shops unlocked their doors. Security vehicles recently deployed on People's Square were no longer there Monday but helmeted riot police remained. Small groups of paramilitary police with riot shields stood guard on street corners and helicopters flew over the city.

Most roads leading to the Grand Bazaar market were reopened and in Uygur districts, more shops lifted their shutters, vendors pushed carts full of peaches and watermelon sellers sliced up their wares. Restaurant staff set up tables under trees next to the road.

Radio talk show hosts urged taxi drivers to be polite to foreign and domestic visitors.

Residents have been ordered to carry their identity cards or driver's licenses for police checks. Police will interrogate anyone who does not have a card, the Urumqi Public Security Bureau said.

"Residents are strictly banned from holding dangerous articles including batons or knives in urban streets or public venues," said the notice, adding that such items would be confiscated. The move was to "prevent a tiny number of individual criminals from the riot who were still at large from seeking revenge and to protect the safety of lives and property of citizens", the notice said.

Zhou Yongkang, a Standing Committee member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said Monday in Urumqi that the overall social situation in Xinjiang was stable. But he warned that "currently, various instability factors still exist and the task of maintaining stability is arduous".

Xinhua contributed to the story