2 suspects in Xinjiang attack killed by police in China

Two "suspects" allegedly involved in recent attacks in China's troubled Xinjiang province, were shot dead by police near Kashgar city, where 20 people were killed in violence blamed on militants trained in Pakistan.

Memtieli Tiliwaldi, 29 and Turson Hasan, 34, who were wanted in connection with the case, were killed yesterday in the corn fields in the suburb of Kashgar, local officials said.

With their death, the number of people, including militants, killed in the recent violence goes up to 22.

Police had issued arrest warrants for the two yesterday and announced a reward of 100,000 yuan ($15,384) for information that could lead to their arrests.

The attacks allegedly orchestrated by the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) were directed against the Han settlers from the Chinese mainland.

Xinjiang's capital Urumqi witnessed massive riots against Hans in 2009, that left almost 200 people dead.

In two violent incidents last weekend, 14 civilians and six militants were killed in Kashgar, throwing the city into panic.

On Sunday, six civilians were killed, and 15 others --including three policemen --  were injured after attackers set fire to a restaurant and started randomly killing civilians on a major shopping street.

While five suspects were shot dead by police, two fled the scene.

The Sunday attack was the second violent case in Kashgar over the weekend after eight civilians were killed in an attack on Saturday.