Explosion on bus in western China kills 12

An explosion on a bus killed 12 people in China's far western region of Xinjiang yesterday, police and the official Xinhua news agency said.

The bus was on its way from the city of Karamay, 200 km east of the border with Kazakhstan, to the city of Usu in northern Xinjiang when the blast occurred at about 1.30 p.m. (0530 GMT), Xinhua said. It was not immediately known what caused the explosion.

The government has blamed pro-independence separatists for a string of bombings and riots in Xinjiang since the 1990s, although officials say none has occurred in the last few years.

Xinjiang is home to China's Turkic-speaking Uighur ethnic minority. Many Uighurs have favoured greater autonomy for the region and some have even sought to establish an independent state called East Turkestan.

Eight people were killed at the site of the explosion and four died in hospital, Xinhua said. The number of passengers on board was not available, it said.