State media announced this Sunday that China will increase police patrols in urban centers and public areas in an intensified drive against violent crimes.

"The ministry of public security said that it will carry out armed patrols and take timely measures to handle violent criminals," Xinhua said.

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The order comes in the wake of a violent confrontation among market vendors in Changsa City that resulted to the death of six people on Thursday.

Police will step up surveillance in Beijing and Shanghai, and tighten security in the restive region of Xinjiang, the ministry said.

A violent knife attack by alleged Xinjiang separatist militants killed 29 people and injured 143 others at a train station in Kunming, Yunnan province on March 1.

The central government called the Kunming incident a "terrorist attack" and state media lashed at their foreign counterparts for not referring to it as such.

Ironically, perpetrators of the Kunming attack cannot be charged with the crime of terrorism because China does not have an anti-terrorism law in place.

Representatives to the just-concluded annual Two Sessions have urged China's legislature to craft a comprehensive national anti-terrorism law to curb the rising number of terrorist activities in regions inhabited by religious extremists.

The 60-member delegation from the Xinjian Uygur autonomous region said an anti-terrorism law must be prioritized to stop and prevent terrorists from repeatedly committing crimes.

The group said the whole legal and judicial systems lack teeth and need improvement in dealing with terrorist attacks.

In the absence of an anti-terror law, apprehended terrorists are charged only with common crimes that carry a lower penalty.

"The current prosecution procedure for terrorist-related cases is not practical, they are insufficient charges covering such crimes and current legal definitions for terrorist activities lack clarity. As a result, most terrorist suspects in Xinjiang are often charged with offenses such as intentional homicide or arson, rather than organizing, leading or participating in terrorist activities," the group said.

Police said the Kunming knife attack was carried out by five members of an eight-member terrorist cell led by Abudulreyim Kurban and that the attackers are terrorists from Xinjiang.

Terrorist attacks in Xinjian are usually instigated by religious extremists but there are no existing anti-terror laws to cover their atrocities.