Days after a reportedly devastating terror attack in Xinjiang province on Monday, where dozens were said to have been killed or wounded with axes and knives, questions are emerging about what exactly happened. Official state news agency Xinhua did not provide an exact number, saying only that “a gang armed with knives and axes attacked a police station and government offices” in Shache (Yarkand) county and what resulted was that “police officers shot dead dozens of members of the mob.” The attack came during the Eid festival at the end of Ramadan. The World Uighur Congress immediately disputed the report, stating that more than 20 Uighurs were shot dead and 10 were injured and over 67 arrested.

The state of Xinjiang has been in a state of emergency since May, when an attack on a vegetable market in Urumqi caused the death of some 43 people. The recent escalation in violence is attributed to many factors, some say rising Islamic fundamentalism in the region as a whole is driving the current rash of attacks, whereas others say displacement of Uighurs by Han Chinese migrants in the province has caused poverty to increase.

What is confusing to some commentators is why news of the demonstration, clash, and massacre have taken so long to get to the press, leading some to believe that both accounts do not add up, according to the New York Times.

Follow us on Twitter: @SteppeDispatch

News Briefs:

• Ukrainian officials have accused Russia-backed rebels of laying mines near the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 crash site. The officials went on to accuse the rebels of ramping up efforts to fortify the crash site and have pointed to recent postponements in Dutch retrieval attempts as evidence of rebel forces’ impediment of international rescue efforts.

• Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has extended an invitation to Tajikistan with the hopes that officials in Dushanbe will consider accession to the Eurasian Economic Union. The Eurasian Economic Union is Russia’s attempt of creating a network of states traditionally bound to Russia, and that would see a greater amount of trade and economic cooperation than in years prior. Lavrov went on to say that cooperation in security matters, such as drug trafficking and the control of extremism in Islam were also areas of mutual interest.

• Russia has banned fruit and vegetables coming from Poland in order to retaliate for US and EU economic sanctions levied against Moscow. The loss of the Russian market will almost certainly be felt by the European agriculture market, which currently sells two billion euros worth of fruit and vegetables to Russia.

• EurasiaNet reports on the latest in a series of national takeovers of foreign businesses in Uzbekistan. A cement company that was previously owned by billionaire Russian oligarch Filaret Galchev has been targeted by Uzbek officials looking to seize valuable assets. Accusations of such activity had previously been aimed at Gulnara Karimova, the daughter of Uzbek President Islam Karimov, though the activity appears not to be limited to the alleged robber baroness, and extends to other members of the country’s elite.