A young Uyghur man was shot dead not for running a red light, but for trying to break through a security checkpoint on his motorbike, then assaulting and trying to grab guns off police, authorities said on Thursday.

Abdulbasit Ablimit, of Keping county, Aksu prefecture in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, twice attempted to run the checkpoint despite warning shots, local official news portal ts.cn reported.

It was after he attacked police officers and tried to rob them of their firearms that he was shot at about 11:40 pm on Saturday. Ablimit died hours later in hospital.

Ablimit was shot dead and his two passengers seriously injured for running a red light, US-backed Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported.

"Foreign hostile forces maliciously distorted facts and fabricated rumors," ts.cn reported.

An Urumqi resident was detained on Wednesday for 15 days for "forwarding this rumor in large quantities," the report said.

Li Li, a spokeswoman for the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau confirmed the news to the Global Times, but referred the reporter to local authorities for details.

"The man refused to be checked, even after his two passengers got off the motorcycle and lay down, unhurt," said a Keping county government staff member who preferred to remain anonymous.

"He attacked police with rocks and rode into police," she told the Global Times over the phone.

Ma Weicheng, an Aksu official in charge of online governance affairs, has been publicly expressing the authorities' stance since early Tuesday.

"Intrude across a checkpoint, attack the police and rob guns - such an offense challenges the law and should be dealt with on the spot, and it would not be tolerated in any country or region," Ma posted on his official microblog.

RFA said hundreds of people had carried the 17-year-old high school student's body and tried to stage a protest in front of the county government office on Saturday and Sunday.

Local police quelled the protests and arrested at least 30 people, the report said.

"I haven't seen or heard any protests," the government staff member told the Global Times on Thursday.

Some 1.87 million Uyghurs or 78 percent of the local population reside in Aksu prefecture along with 35 other ethnic groups.

On January 24, a terrorist group riding three motorcycles set off explosions at a hair salon and a vegetable market in Aksu's Xinhe county, killing one person and injuring two. Police shot dead six suspects. Six other suspects died in the blast.