China’s Xinjiang region was hit by a wave of violence at the weekend that saw 10 people killed by knife-wielding assailants and another four shot dead by police, state media and authorities said yesterday.

The unrest happened in the ancient Silk Road city of Kashgar in two separate attacks and local residents said yesterday the city center was under lockdown, with security forces patrolling the streets.

Xinjiang has seen several outbreaks of ethnic violence in recent years as the mainly Muslim Uighur minority bridles under what it regards as oppression by the Chinese government.