Police authorities said 18 suspects connected to violence in Xinjiang surrendered, but a Munich-based Uighur rights advocay group questioned the official count, according to Xinhua News Agency. 

According to Dilxat Raxit, a representative of the World Uighur Congress, the 18 surrendered to the police for fear of their lives and their families. Reports said that authorities took the suspects’ families into custody to persuade them to surrender.

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The July 28 violence in the western region of Shache county, also known as Yarkant, killed 37 innocent people while police gunned down 59 attackers bringing the death toll to 96 with another 13 injured civilians. The attack happened when a gang wielding with weapons invades a police station and government offices in southern Xinjiang.

Abdulkeyum Abdukhadir, a spokesman from the Shache public security bureau, said that the suspects were identified as extremists, while majority of the attackers were threatened to join the riot.

Those people who voluntarily turned themselves to the authorities will get a lighter sentence but for those on the loose, they were notified to surrender immediately.

Local authorities said that they have arrested around 215 people who are linked to the violence.

Apart from that, they have launched a security campaign which includes raising the police and security forces presence in the cities and towns in Xinjiang.

According to some reports, the police has announced that 30,000 volunteers helped them in tracking down the assailants of the Shache incident. Moreover, they also want to recruit up to 100,000 public volunteers to identify other suspected terrorists.

After a series of violent attacks of terrorists from Xinjiang and in different parts of the country, China blamed the East Turkestan Islamic Movement for the turmoil in the region.

TagsXinjiang violence, Secession