Eighteen suspects have "surrendered" to police investigating an attack which led to almost 100 deaths in China’s Xinjiang region, home to the mainly Muslim Uighur minority.

Eighteen suspects have "surrendered" to police investigating an attack which led to almost 100 deaths in China's Xinjiang region, home to the mainly Muslim Uighur minority, state media said Sunday.

"The suspects have turned themselves in under tense pressure from the public," State-run news agency Xinhua said, offering no further details.

A total of 37 civilians and 59 "terrorists" were killed in an attack on a police station and government offices on July 28 in the far western region's Shache county, or Yarkand in the Uighur language, according to earlier reports.

It was the latest in a series of violent incidents over recent months in and connected with the vast, resource-rich region.

The toll made it the bloodiest since rioting involving Uighurs and members of China's Han majority left around 200 people dead in the regional capital Urumqi in 2009.

Rights groups accuse China's government of cultural and religious repression they say fuels unrest in the region, which borders Central Asia.