Three people are confirmed dead and 79 others injured in a blast that rocked a railway station in the western Xinjiang region in China on Wednesday evening.

Authorities have yet to confirm the exact cause of the blast but President Xi Jinping has urged them to take 'decisive' action against terrorism to maintain the country's stability.

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Xinjiang has been the center of violent clashes in the past few months. Chinese President Xi visited the area this week and has vowed to strengthen the country's campaign against terrorism.

Authorities said a bomb and knives were used in the Xinjiang railway attack.

In its verified microblog platform, state-operated newspaper People's Daily said the blast at the Urumqi train station in Xinjiang occurred at 19:00 in the evening. The paper also said some personnel were hurt in the incident.

The Beijing News, on the other hand, cited police officers saying at least 50 people had retained injuries in the blast.

Some unverified post-explosion photos on social media appeared showing suitcases and debris scattered across the street. Some of the photos and posts on China's microblog platform Weibo seem to have been quickly removed from the site.

Regional government spokesman Luo Fuyong told the Reuters news firm that the situation is presently under control. He also said the state was investigating the casualties and the cause of the railway explosion.

In recent years, the Xinjiang region has experienced extreme ethnic tensions, according to Martin Patience of BBC. The said area is being occupied by China's Muslim minority group called Uighur. The Muslim group has long accused China of repression. Beijing, however, has denied the Uighur group's claim.

In March, Chinese authorities said Xinjiang separatists were responsible for a mass knife attack which occurred in Kinming, an area found in southwest China. The violent incident had killed 29 people and injured over 130.