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Police killed 14 rioters and captured four others who had attacked a police station in Hotan, a city in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, at noon on Monday, local government officials said on Wednesday.

Hou Hanmin, chief of the autonomous region's information office, told China Daily the incident was "a severe terrorist attack".

"It was obviously a long-planned, unprovoked, terrorist attack, aimed at the police station," Hou said.

"To attract the attention of police inside the station, the rioters first attacked two passers-by not far from the Naarburg Street police station (where the riot happened on Monday)."

Eighteen rioters slipped into the city on Saturday and bought or made the knives, explosives and other weapons they would later use in the attack, according to the results of the local government's initial investigation.

Police shot down the rioters within 90 minutes of the start of the attack and then managed to free six civilians who had been taken hostage in the station.

The casualties were not all on one side. An officer with the local Armed Police brigade and a public security worker lost their lives rescuing the hostages. And two hostages were killed by rioters during the rescue operation.

Shouting extremist slogans, the rioters ran to the top floor of the station and came under fire from the police, who were trying to stop them, said a policeman who declined to give his name.

When the attack took place, most of the officers at the station were soliciting opinions from local residents about various public security works.

Before the attack, the rioters had raided an adjacent building belonging to the local commercial authority.

The rioters were all men aged between 20 to 40. They spoke with accents revealing that they hailed from somewhere besides Hotan.

The Naarburg Street police station is located in the Itkar Grand Bazaar in the city's downtown, where hawkers sell fruit, livestock and other goods. The bazaar is also a popular place for meetings.

Hotan sits in the southern part of the autonomous region. About 96.3 percent of Hotan's population is composed of Uygurs and 3.5 percent of Han.

The attack on Monday took place just days after the second anniversary of the July 5 riots in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, in which 197 people were killed and 1,700 injured.

（中國日報網英語點津 Julie 編輯）

About the broadcaster:

Lee Hannon is Chief Editor at China Daily with 15-years experience in print and broadcast journalism. Born in England, Lee has traveled extensively around the world as a journalist including four years as a senior editor in Los Angeles. He now lives in Beijing and is happy to move to China and join the China Daily team.