The attack that happened in Wushi county in Aksu Prefecture last Friday was staged by 13 suspected terrorists from a religious extremist group, according to the report that Xinjiang police released Sunday.

The assault in Wushi County, which is close to the China-Kyrgyzstan border, is the latest incident of violence in Xinjiang which has been rocked by violence in past years.  Beijing has attributed the violent acts to Islamist militants and separatists who want to create a new and independent state. 

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According to the official police statement, the attack was an "organized, premeditated terrorist assault targeting the police".

The report further stated that a certain Mehmut Tohti started to propagate religious extremism in the area three years back. He is the leader of a group of 13 suspected terrorists since 2013.

Police investigations reveal that the group prepared for the attack since January. They underwent physical training, viewed videos and listened to audio materials on terrorism.  They equipped themselves with hacking knives and vehicles to be used in the attack and made their own explosive devices.  They also did trial runs of blasting their explosives in preparation for their final attack targeting police vehicles. 

The police was able to kill eight of the terrorists and three other terrorists were killed by the suicide devices that they themselves triggered during their assault.

Meanwhile, two police officers and two civilians sustained injuries due to the attack. The attack also damaged or destroyed five police vehicles.

A number of explosive devices and hacking knives were recovered by the police at the explosion site.

Hotan, Kashgar and Aksu, all in the southern part of Xinjiang, are areas where suspected separatist forces are trying to penetrate. These areas have a population dominated by Muslim Uygurs.

Some 190 terrorist attacks were recorded in Xinjiang in 2012, increasing by a significant margin from 2011, according to the regional public security department.

There have been around 190 terrorist attacks reported in Xinjiang in 2012 based on reports from the regional public security department. And since April last year, over a hundred people, a significant number of whom were policemen, had died due to these violent terrorist attacks.

Rights advocates, however, say that the credibility of reports that China releases on these violent attacks in the area are not trustworthy and that authorities ban journalists from traveling to the area to conduct their own transparent investigations.