China police arrest Xinjiang 'terror gang'

 

                  The arrests followed last week's deadly attack on an Urumqi market street

Police in China's Xinjiang region have arrested a "terror group", following a spate of attacks blamed on extremists, state media report.

Five suspects were detained and 1.8 tonnes of material for explosive devices seized, Xinhua said.

Police said the suspects intended to bomb crowded locations in Hotan in south-western Xinjiang.

The arrests come days after an attack in Xinjiang's capital Urumqi killed 39 people and injured more than 90.

Authorities say they are holding a suspect in connection with the attack, in which two vehicles drove into shoppers at a market and attackers threw explosives. Four other attackers reportedly died at the scene.

Urumqi residents gathered on 23 May to mourn the victims of the attack

That attack followed a bomb and knife attack at Urumqi's south railway station in April, a March stabbing spree in Kunming in Yunnan province, and a October 2013 incident in which a car ploughed into a crowd and burst into flames in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

Authorities have blamed separatists from the region's Uighur Muslim minority for these attacks.

Police said the Hotan group were led by a man named Abliz Dawut, who along with other members constructed bombs the night after the 22 May attack.