China says Urumqi toll may rise

URUMQI, China, July 13 (UPI) -- Chinese officials said Monday the death toll from the Urumqi riots could surpass the latest figure of 184, as 74 of the injured were near death.

Calm was reported in capital of the northwest Xinjiang-Uighur province, where clashes July 5 between the majority Han Chinese and Muslim Uighurs killed at least 184 people and injured about 1,650, China Daily reported.

Chinese authorities have blamed the exiled World Uighur Congress for masterminding the riots. The group speaks for the Turkic-speaking Muslim Uighurs, who resent being ruled by the Han Chinese. The WUC has denied the charge.

The ethnic rioting has been described as the worst based on casualties since the founding of Communist China in 1949.

The city of 2.3 million people remained under tight security with police in riot gears inspecting checkpoints on Urumqi streets, the report said. Among those injured, 939 were still in hospital, including 216 listed as seriously injured.

Britain's Daily Telegraph reported the government has said the majority of those killed in the riots were Han Chinese. The newspaper said the Uighurs were winning sympathy from Muslims in other countries.

"It is true that the Chinese government and its people have close economic and political ties with Iran and other Islamic countries, but this is no reason for them to horribly suppress our Muslim brothers and sisters," Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shrazi was quoted as saying in Iran.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned what he called China's "savagery" on Muslim Uighurs, CNN reported, adding Turks consider the Uighurs as part of the Turkic Muslim clan.