A screen grab of the video of a terror attack in Shache county, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, which left 37 civilians dead and another 13 injured in late July. Photo: Xinhua
China Central Television (CCTV) on Thursday evening broadcast the video of a terror attack in Shache County, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, which left 37 civilians dead and another 13 injured in late July.
The footage showed two vehicles set on fire in a local town. It also showed a driver risking his life to bring a baby girl to safety while several vehicles stood in danger of getting caught in the flames.
A gang armed with knives and axes attacked a police station and government offices in Elixku Township in the early hours of July 28, and some moved on to the nearby Huangdi Township, attacking civilians and smashing vehicles as they passed.
Seyit, Communist Party chief of a village in Elixku, along with 11 village cadres and militiamen, encountered the mobs when the office of the village committee was under attack.
Stored in the office were 13 spears and helmets as well as
stab-resistant clothing, Seyit was quoted by the CCTV as saying. "The consequences would have been disastrous if we had not taken hold of the office and allowed the mobs to seize these weapons."
Seyit led the group to the roof to call the police while organizing a group to fend off the mob.
One man in nearby Huangdi Township did his best to dissuade the mob, helping protect more than 140 households in the village, according to the CCTV.
"I was about to make a cake when two cars stopped in front of my gate. Several people with masks and clubs rushed in and asked me to go with them (to attack others)," the local farmer said in the TV report.
"I said we have no weapons with us and told them to come back later after I asked my two grandsons to get weapon ready," he said. "Then they left."
The old men then immediately notified his family and villagers to hide themselves.
The attack happened on July 28 in Shache County of Kashgar in northwest China's Xinjiang. Police shot 59 terrorists dead and arrested 215 others during the armed confrontation.
Out of the 31 vehicles smashed in the violent attack, 6 were burned.
A screen grab of the video of a terror attack in Shache county, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, which left 37 civilians dead and another 13 injured in late July. Photo: Xinhua
A screen grab of the video of a terror attack in Shache county, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, which left 37 civilians dead and another 13 injured in late July. Photo: Xinhua