A look into half a decade of violence in China's northern province of Xinjiang, home of the Uighur Muslims, and the scene of Thursday's blasts that killed dozens of people:

August 4, 2008: Two men from the Uighur group embezzle a dump truck and drive it straight into an assembly of policemen in Kashgar, killing 16 people. The assault happened prior to the opening of the Beijing Olympics, proving that the extremist group would try to interrupt the games.

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July 5-7, 2009: In central Urumqi, hostility erupts between authorities and Uighur protesters before spreading to other parts of the city. About 197 people, mostly Han Chinese, were killed in the worst mayhem in the region of Xinjiang in decades.

July 18, 2011: Several young Uighur men harass government offices as well as a police station in the outskirts of Hotan in southern Xinjiang, killing two hostages and two police officers. Out of the 18 Uighur assailants, 14 are shot dead.

April 24, 2013: Gang members wound and set fire to neighborhood security patrol authorities and then monitor a village located in the outskirts of Kashgar, killing 21 officers as well as local government officials.

June 26, 2013: Attackers invade police and government offices located in the town of Lukqun in the eastern part of Xinjiang, slaying a total of 24 civilians and officers. According to official reports, the group that attacked the town came from a 17-member rebel Islamist cell.

October 28, 2013: A vehicle transporting an Uighur man, his mother-in-law and his wife leaps into a curb in the business district of Beijing and rummages through a group of tourists before stopping in front of the Tiananmen Gate and blasting into flames. Five people are killed, including two tourists and the people inside the vehicle. This is the first recorded terrorism incident that happened in Beijing.

March 1, 2014: A group of knife-wielding assailants storm the Kunming railway station in southwestern Yunnan province, killing 29 people and wounding more than a hundred others.

April 30, 2014: Two alleged suicide bombers set off their explosives at the Urumqi train station exit, killing one person as well as themselves. Another group of eight people assaulted passengers using knives, injuring a total of 79 people.

May 22, 2014: Two trucks rammed through a mob gathered at an open-air market in Urumqi while throwing explosives from their windows. A total of 31 people are killed and 94 others are injured, posting the largest number of fatalities in a single violent attack in Xinjiang in recent years.