Ethnic riots kill 27 in in China's Xinjiang

The riots erupted after knife-wielding mobs attacked police stations in a remote Turpan prefecture early on Wednesday, Xinhua news agency reported.
 
Local officials said as many as 27 people were killed, including nine officers in the troubled region.
 
Security forces reportedly arrested three people and were searching for fleeing suspects.
 
The Turkic-speaking Xinjiang is home to a large population of Muslim Uighur, who complain of marginalization.
 
The autonomous region has been the scene of numerous violent incidents in recent years. Ethnic clashes between Uighur and Han Chinese communities in 2009 in Urumqi left nearly 200 people dead.