Beijing:
Nine axe-wielding assailants were shot dead during an attack on a police station in China's restive Xinjiang province, state media reported on Saturday.
The attackers killed two auxiliary police officers before they were themselves gunned down, according to the Xinhua news agency.
The assault took place around 5:30 pm (0930 GMT) in the Serikbuya Township of Bachu County in Kashgar Prefecture.
Quoting police, Xinhua said the attackers armed themselves with knives and axes and that two police officers were also injured alongside the two that were killed. The agency gave no further details.
The assault comes at a time of heightened tension within Xinjiang following a fiery attack in Beijing's Tiananmen Square last month which the government blamed on "terrorists" from the province backed by international Islamist militants.
Xinjiang - a vast, resource rich province that makes up much of China's western flank - has been the scene of several violent clashes, the most recent of which left dozens dead in April, June and August this year.
Ethnic Uighurs, a mainly Muslim minority who make up a majority in Xinjiang, routinely complain of rights abuses against them by the authorities.
In the most recent incident, three Xinjiang Uighurs drove their car loaded with petrol canisters into the gate of the Forbidden City in an attack on 28 October that left two dead, besides the three people in the car, and 40 injured, according to Chinese police.
Beijing blamed the attack on Uighur separatists backed by the violent Islamist militant East Turkestan Islamic Movement.
The authorities have, however, not provided any evidence to support this assertion, which has raised doubts among experts given the amateurish nature of the attack and the lack of an established Islamic extremist foothold in China.
Chinese state-run media have reported periodic bouts of violence in Xinjiang which Beijing often describes as "terrorist attacks".
One such incident in June left 35 people dead, and 139 people have been arrested in recent months for spreading jihadist ideology.
But Uighur organisations in Xinjiang dismiss claims of terrorism and separatism as an excuse by Beijing to justify religious and security restrictions.
Information in the area is difficult to independently verify.