China's state news agency says at least four people were killed when a crowd attacked a police station in China's restive Xinjiang region on July 18.
The Xinhua news agency reported that the attackers, who were said to have been members of the region's mainly Muslim Uyghur minority, set fire to the building in the remote city of Hotan in the far northwest and took a number of hostages.
The report said two of the dead were hostages, one was a security worker, and another was a police officer.
A spokesman for the German-based World Uyghur Congress said the clashes erupted after a group of Uyghurs tried to take away a number of police officers so they could demand the release of family members who had been arrested.
In July 2009, some 200 people were killed amid clashes between Uyghurs in the regional capital, Urumqi, and members of China's dominant Han group.
Xinjiang is home to more than 8 million Uyghurs.
compiled from agency reports