Beijing:
An explosion occurred at a railway station in Urumqi, capital of China's restive far western region of Xinjiang, and injured people have been taken to hospital, state media said on Wednesday.
The blast happened at Urumqi's south railway station, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
The People's Daily said on its official microblog that there were injuries.
Pictures on China's Twitter-like Weibo service, which Reuters could not independently verify, showed blood on suitcases and debris on the ground in front of the station.
The incident happened just as President Xi Jinping was wrapping up a four-day visit to the region.
Xinjiang, resource-rich and strategically located on the borders of central Asia, has been beset by violence for years, blamed by the government on Islamist militants and separatists.
Exiles and many rights groups say the real cause of the unrest is China's heavy-handed policies, including curbs on Islam and the culture and language of the Muslim Uighur people who call Xinjiang home.
China's nervousness about Islamist militancy has grown since a car burst into flames on the edge of Beijing's Tiananmen Square in October, and 29 people were stabbed to death last month in the southwestern city of Kunming.
The blast happened at Urumqi's south railway station, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
The People's Daily said on its official microblog that there were injuries.
Pictures on China's Twitter-like Weibo service, which Reuters could not independently verify, showed blood on suitcases and debris on the ground in front of the station.
The incident happened just as President Xi Jinping was wrapping up a four-day visit to the region.
Xinjiang, resource-rich and strategically located on the borders of central Asia, has been beset by violence for years, blamed by the government on Islamist militants and separatists.
Exiles and many rights groups say the real cause of the unrest is China's heavy-handed policies, including curbs on Islam and the culture and language of the Muslim Uighur people who call Xinjiang home.
China's nervousness about Islamist militancy has grown since a car burst into flames on the edge of Beijing's Tiananmen Square in October, and 29 people were stabbed to death last month in the southwestern city of Kunming.
© Thomson Reuters 2014
