During the last ten days, at least 25 people died in clashes between Uyghurs and the police forces in Northwestern China, as reported by the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP). "This is a clear indication for another rise in tensions in the crisis region of Xinjiang/East Turkestan," said Ulrich Delius, the STP's China-expert, in Göttingen on Monday. "The fact that the number of victims is increasing so rapidly is also a consequence of the more ruthless police operations – which the local people see as arbitrary." Thus, 17 people were killed during a house search on February 17, which ended in a bloodbath. "The victims of violence are mostly members of the Muslim minority, both on the part of the civilian population and of the security forces. Here, Uyghurs are killing Uyghurs – either to secure China's claim to power over the resource-rich region or to question it."

The most consequential incident occurred in the prefecture of Aksu last week, on February 17, when unarmed Uyghur auxiliary police searched a house in the city Yaqaeriq. When the search team told the occupants of the house to leave the building, they resisted and attacked instead. The auxiliary police troops managed to escape the enraged Uyghurs and find shelter in a nearby police station. Then, armed Chinese police officers opened fire and indiscriminately shot attackers as well as passers-by. Four members of the auxiliary police died in the incident, as well as nine Uyghur who lived in the house and four bystanders. Two of the victims were women. The Chinese security authorities had focused on the house because members of the family living there had been arrested for political reasons. From the viewpoint of the authorities, tens of thousands of Uyghurs are suspicious – because of family members who are imprisoned for political reasons or because they wear beards or traditional Islamic clothing. "The house searches, interrogations and arbitrary detentions are attempts to intimidate the Uyghurs and to fuel the climate of fear and the cycle of violence," said Delius.

Just one day before – in the village of Bashquduqla in Hotan Prefecture – a farmer was shot dead on the way to his field after he had refused to follow the police to be interrogated.

In the district of Guma, Hotan Prefecture, at least seven people were killed on February 13 in clashes between Uyghurs and the police. The authorities immediately imposed an information blackout.

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