URUMQI, China (Reuters) – Chinese police shot dead  12 Uighur rioters in Xinjiang this month, regional governor Nuer  Baikeli said yesterday, in a rare government admission of  deaths inflicted by security forces.

In Xinjiang’s worst ethnic unrest in decades, Uighurs  attacked majority Han Chinese in regional capital Urumqi on July  5 after taking to the streets to protest against an ethnic clash  at a factory in south China in June which left two Uighurs dead.

The violence left 197 people dead and more than 1,600  wounded, mostly Han Chinese who launched revenge attacks in  Urumqi days later. About 1,000 people, mostly Uighurs, have been  detained in an ensuing government crackdown.

Asked to elaborate on the casualties, the governor said most  of the victims sustained head wounds after they were bludgeoned  with bricks and iron rods.

Police shot dead 12 armed Uighurs attacking civilians and  ransacking shops after they ignored warning shots fired into the  air, said Nuer Baikeli, a Uighur, a Turkic people who are  largely Muslim and share linguistic and cultural bonds with  Central Asia.