Security forces in China have shot dead 13 people in the troubled Xinjiang region after they drove into a police building and set off an explosion, the AFP news agency reported, citing a regional government website.

"Today thugs crashed a car into the public security building of Kargilik county in Xinjiang's Kashgar prefecture and set off an explosion. Police took decisive action and shot dead 13 thugs," the official Tianshan web portal reported on Saturday, adding that three police were injured.

It was the latest in a series of attacks pointing to growing unrest in the sprawling region, where the native Muslim Uighur people want more autonomy from Beijing. Last month, a market bombing killed 43 people in Xinjiang's capital, Urumqi.

In March, a knife assault at a railway station in the southern city of Kunming left 29 dead and 143 wounded.

Chinese authorities have blamed the attacks on "extremists" bent on overthrowing Beijing's rule.

Exiled Uighur groups and human rights activists said China's own repressive policies in Xinjiang have provoked the unrest.

Officials in the region contacted by phone either said they were unclear about the situation or refused to comment.

Last Monday, China had executed 13 people accused of terror attacks in Xinjiang.

Source: aljazeera