Media reports say 21 people have been killed in violent clashes in China's ethnically divided western region of Xinjiang.
A local official told the AFP news agency that the violence broke out on April 23.
A report on a government-run website, Tianshan Net, said that gunfights erupted in Bachu county, in the west of the province, after police went to search the homes of people suspected of possessing guns.
The report described the fighting as a "violent terror incident."
The website said 15 of those killed were either police or social workers, with 11 of them being members of China's Uyghur ethnic minority, who live mainly in Xinjiang.
A local official told the AFP news agency that the violence broke out on April 23.
A report on a government-run website, Tianshan Net, said that gunfights erupted in Bachu county, in the west of the province, after police went to search the homes of people suspected of possessing guns.
The report described the fighting as a "violent terror incident."
The website said 15 of those killed were either police or social workers, with 11 of them being members of China's Uyghur ethnic minority, who live mainly in Xinjiang.
