China’s East Turkestan (Xinjiang) region has started a "one-year crackdown" on "violent terrorist activities", the official Xinhua news agency reported on Friday, providing no further details.

China's East Turkestan (Xinjiang) region has started a "one-year crackdown" on "violent terrorist activities", the official Xinhua news agency reported on Friday, providing no further details.

The troubled East Turkestan region in western China (East Turkestan), home to a large Muslim Uihgur minority, was the scene of China's biggest attack in years on Thursday, when explosives hurled from two vehicles in an open market killed 31 people.

China called the attack in the regional capital of Urumqi a "serious violent terrorist incident" and domestic security chief Meng Jianzhu vowed to strengthen a crackdown on the "arrogance of terrorists".

Ninety-four people were wounded.

The incident, which occurred in Urumqi on Thursday morning, was the second attack in the capital in just over three weeks. A bomb and knife attack at an Urumqi train station in late April killed one bystander and wounded 79.

Exiles and many rights groups say the real cause of the unrest in East Turkestan is China's heavy-handed policies, including curbs on religion and the culture and language of ethnic Uighurs.

The Uighurs have long complained of official discrimination in favor of the Han people, China's majority ethnic group.