UPDATE - Chinese media: 5 dead in attack in Xinjiang

UPDATES WITH NEW STATEMENT

By Tevfik Durul

BEIJING (AA) - Chinese police have shot dead three suspects that authorities say killed two people in an attack on a government compound in the troubled northwestern Xinjiang region, according to state media.

Official news agency Xinhua cited a Ministry of Public Security statement Thursday as saying that three “rioters” riding a vehicle entered the compound of Moyu County’s Committee of the Communist Party of China in a vehicle Wednesday afternoon.

The suspects reportedly attacked workers with knives and set off an explosive device, leaving an official and a security worker dead and three others injured.

The ministry said the suspects were shot dead and authorities are investigating the case.

State media had earlier cited the regional government as saying that one person was killed in the attack and police shot dead four suspects. Three others were reported injured.

No further details were provided, but the regional government said social order in Moyu -- also known as Karakax -- remains “stable”.

The Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region is home to a number of ethnic groups including the Uighur, a Turkic-speaking minority who make up 45 percent of the population.

The Muslim minority group has long accused the government of curtailing their cultural and religious rights.