China has executed eight people for allegedly taking part in terrorist attacks, reports state.

Tianshan, the official news services provided in Xinjiang, confirmed that China's highest court approved the execution of the eight people on charges from five separate and independent cases.

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These eight men were charged with organizing, leading, and participating in a terrorist organization.

In addition to that, they were also charged with intentional homicide, illegally making, storing, and transporting explosives, jeopardizing the public's safety through engaging in dangerous means, and arson.

Although Chinese authorities did not reveal the ethnicity of the executed men, based on some of their names it is assumed they are Uighur. Uighur is a group of people who are Turkic-speaking and follows Sunni Islam.

Out of the eight men, three were considered the "masterminds" behind an attack which occurred last October. During the incident, 39 people were injured and three bystanders killed when a sports utility vehicle plunged into a crowd in Tiananmen Square and burst into flames, killing all three people inside the vehicle as well.  

Named prisoners who were executed were Rozi Eziz and Abdusalam Elim. Rozi was convicted of firing at two policemen in Eziz in June 2013, while Elim was convicted of leading and organizing a terrorist group and manufacturing explosives.

The names of the other six men executed have not yet been released.

According to reports, the means in which the death sentences were carried out has also not been revealed, causing concern amongst human rights groups. Some organizations have stated that the Chinese government's prevalent control only serves to worsen tensions in Xinjiang.

Xinjiang was controlled by Chinese Communists in 1949 and ethnic tensions have been rising for decades. With the growing ethnic violence across the Xinjiang area, China's government has staged a series of public displays and verdicts in an attempt to difuse the situation. 

Tagsterrorist organization, Terrorist group, Rozi Eziz, bdusalam Elim, china execution