China's government issued a statement yesterday identifying the attackers responsible for the explosion which rocked a train station in Xinjiang on Wednesday evening as religious extremists.

Three people died in the blast on Wednesday night and two of them have been identified as the perpetrators of the violent incident. Officials were able to name one of the men responsible for the explosion as 39-year-old Sedierding Shawuti. However, the second man has not yet been identified.

Like Us on Facebook

The third person who died in the explosion was said to be an innocent bystander.

Wednesday's bomb attack is the first in the Xinjiang region in the last 17 years, but Xinjiang has seen its fair amount of violence in recent years due to the strategic location of the state and also because of Islamists separatists who hope to make Xinjiang its own independent East Turkestan state.

Although it is unclear what Shawuti and his cohort were hoping to accomplish by setting off the bomb, it is believed that the incident was timed to coincide with President Xi's visit to the region. State media did not say whether or not Xi was in the area when the bomb blast went off at the Urumqi train station.

Xi himself released a statement yesterday urging troops to work hard to contain further terrorist activities.

"Resolutely crush the space for terrorist activities and contain the spreading trend of escalation," The President stated.

However, it wasn't immediately clear what steps China's government plans to take in order to oust future terrorist attacks and prevent situations such as this one from occurring again.