Deep-rooted tension in the restive Western Chinese region of Xinjiang has once again been brought to the surface in Hotan, a remote oasis town after an attack on a police station there on Monday left at least 20 people dead.
On Monday morning, a group of men stormed into the Narbag police station, stabbed the duty officer at the front desk to death and laid fire with petrol bombs, according to Hotan police.
The police station was barricaded and guarded by two dozen People’s Armed Police with machineguns on trigger on Thursday but the front gate was frequently being opened for tricycles with window frames and buckets of paint. Abulaiti Maitiniyazi, chief of the Narbag post, said it would reopen on Monday.