China has issued its first full account of the 58-day manhunt for a group of men who attacked a coal mine in the ethnically divided region of Xinjiang in September, an incident it has sought to equate with the Paris attacks in November.

Beijing contends that the west should acknowledge it is fighting terrorists and separatists in Xinjiang. But civil rights activists and other critics maintain that China’s policies are responsible for most of the unrest in the remote region.

The September 18 attack on the Sogon mine in Baicheng not far from China’s frontier with central Asia was first acknowledged by Chinese security authorities shortly after gunmen attacked multiple targets in Paris on November 13 but not recounted in state media until November 20.