Police in China shot and killed seven kidnappers and rescued two people being held hostage in the north-west region of Xinjiang. Four other kidnappers were wounded.
An official web site there says a police officer was killed and another was wounded on Wednesday night.
However, an exile group describes the incident as a desperate protest by Uighurs. It says there is mounting discontent over a police crackdown and religious repression in the area.
There were a number of fatal incidents in Xinjiang in July, which prompted the dispatch a police counter-terrorism unit to the region.
