Police detain suspect after blast kills 7 in Xinjiang

Police in China's restive far western region of Xinjiang have detained a suspect after an explosion on an electric tricycle killed seven people and injured another 14, state news agency Xinhua said on Thursday.                                           
 

Xinhua said the incident, which it called in its English-language report an "accident", happened in the morning in the southern city of Aksu.                                           
 

"A suspect had been seized by police at the site and was being questioned," it said, citing a government statement.                       
 

"Local authorities were going all out to treat the injured people," the report added. It gave no further details.                                           
 

Beijing often blames what it calls violent separatist groups in Xinjiang for attacks on police or other government targets, saying they work with al-Qaeda or Central Asian militants to bring about an independent state called East Turkestan.                             

In June, the government said it had broken up a "terrorist" cell planning attacks in the southern Xinjiang cities of Kashgar, Hotan and Aksu.                                           

Many Uighurs -- a Muslim, Turkic-speaking people native to the region -- chafe under rule from Beijing and restrictions on their language, culture and religion.                                            

They now make up less than half of Xinjiang's population after decades of immigration by the majority Han from other parts of China.                                           
 

Uighur exiles accuse China of whipping up the threat posed by armed separatists to justify harsh crackdowns in Xinjiang.