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11 executed in China

BEIJING: China has executed 11 people in the restive northwestern region of Xinjiang for murder, armed robbery and separatist activities, the Xinjiang Daily said.

A court in Akesu announced the sentences and the 11 accused were shot immediately afterwards, the newspaper said in its March 15 edition, seen in Beijing on Monday.

The group, described as "violent terrorists", had shot dead two police officers and stabbed another to death after trying to rob a farm in October 1996, the newspaper said. They also killed six miners in August 1997, it said.

They were charged with crimes including robbery, illegal possession and trade of firearms and explosives, and carrying out separatist activities, the newspaper said.

Xinjiang is home to Turkish-speaking Uighurs who have been struggling for decades to establish an independent East Turkestan in the region, which borders Afghanistan, Pakistan and three former Soviet Central Asian republics.

Beijing regards Uighur militants as "terrorists" and not political prisoners, and Amnesty International has accused it of executing political prisoners there and extracting confessions through torture.-Reuters