POLICE IN CHINA have killed two men suspected of being behind an attack on a restaurant at the weekend in Kashgar in which six people died. Police had killed five suspects at the scene of the attack.

The BBC reports that 18 people died over the weekend in the restive region of Xinjiang, where serious rioting erupted two years ago. Nearly 200 people were killed in fighting between Uighurs and Han Chinese in the regional capital Urumqi in 2009.

There are fears the recent attacks could spark further unrest in the region and a stronger crackdown on the minority ethnic Uighurs who have been blamed for previous violence.

Yesterday, Kashgar’s city government blamed Muslim extremists it said were trained in Pakistan for the attack.

The attackers stormed a restaurant, killing the owner and an employee before setting the premises on fire. They then attacked people outside the restaurant, stabbing four dead and leaving 12 injured.

On Saturday, seven people were killed in clashed in Kashgar. Police said that two men wielding knives hijacked a van and drove it into a group of pedestrians, however their identities and motives were unclear. They also said that the crowd retaliated and attacked the men, killing one. Six bystanders were killed in the incident.

Xinhua reports that the region’s top government official has promised to target those instigating such attacks and said the people responsible for the weekend’s violence would be severely punished in accordance with the law.

- Additional reporting from the AP