China Detains 19 After Xinjiang Unrest

Police in China have detained 19 people and seized homemade explosives and weapons after a deadly clash in its restive region of Xinjiang last week.

Twenty-one people, including 15 police officers, were killed in the clash between residents and officials in the heavily ethnic Uyghur part of Xinjiang near the old Silk Road city of Kashgar.

It was the deadliest violence in the far western region since July 2009, when nearly 200 people were killed in riots in the Xinjiang capital of Urumqi.

Xinjiang is a sprawling region that borders Central Asia, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

It is home to millions of Uyghurs, many of whom complain of tight restrictions on religious and cultural life by Beijing and say they have been marginalized by policies favoring Han migrants.

Based on reporting by AP and Reuters