Chinese security forces killed eight people who attacked a police station in the northwestern region of Xinjiang, local authorities reported on Monday, in the third violent incident associated with the restive territory in two months.

According to a report posted on the Xinjiang government’s website, the “violent terrorist attack” took place at 6:30 on Monday morning. In addition to the eight killed – who were armed with knives and explosive devices – another person was apprehended in the incident in Yarkand county near Kashgar.

Attacks on police posts have become common occurrences in Xinjiang, an oil and gas-rich “autonomous region” that is home to an active separatist movement supported by many Uighurs.

The Muslim Uighurs were for centuries the dominant ethnic group in the region, which enjoyed a brief period of independence in the 1940s, but many now fear that they have been marginalised by an influx of Han Chinese settlers, especially over the past three decades.

The Chinese government maintains that the separatists are engaged in a terrorism campaign, and have close links to al-Qaeda organisations in neighbouring Afghanistan and Pakistan.

In a similar attack in Xinjiang last month, 11 people including two auxiliary police officers were killed in Selibuya township, also near Kashgar.

In a rare incident outside Xinjiang, in late October three Uighurs drove a car loaded with petrol into a crowd of people near Tiananmen gate in central Beijing.

The three assailants and two tourists died in the incident. Chinese police subsequently arrested five other Xinjiang residents allegedly involved in co-ordinating the attack.

中国新疆地方当局周一发布消息称，公安民警在当地击毙了八个袭击公安局的人。这是两个月内发生的第三起与这一动荡不安的地区有关的暴力事件。

新疆政府所属的网站发布的一则报道称，这起“暴力恐怖袭击”发生在周一早上6时30分。在这起发生在喀什地区莎车县的事件中，除了有八人（这些人持有砍刀和爆炸装置）被击毙外，还有一人被抓获。

在新疆，袭击警方驻地的事件已屡见不鲜。这个富含油气资源的“自治区”分裂主义运动活跃，这项运动受到不少维吾尔人支持。

几个世纪以来，信奉伊斯兰教的维吾尔人都是新疆的主要族群。上世纪40年代，维吾尔人曾享有过短暂的独立。但如今有许多维吾尔人担心，他们已被涌入新疆的汉族移民边缘化——特别是在过去30年里。

中国政府坚称，分裂主义分子从事恐怖主义活动，并与阿富汗及巴基斯坦境内的基地(al-Qaeda)组织联系密切。阿富汗和巴基斯坦皆毗邻新疆。

上月在新疆发生的一起类似袭击中，有11人在喀什地区的色力布亚镇丧生，其中包括两名协警。

在10月底发生在新疆之外的一起罕见事件中，三名维吾尔人驾驶一辆载有汽油的汽车，冲入北京市中心天安门附近的人群。

在这起事件中，三名袭击者及两名游客丧生。中国警方随后逮捕了涉嫌参此次袭击的另五名新疆居民。