A XINJIANG court sentenced 12 people to death yesterday for organizing terrorist attacks that killed 37 civilians in Shache County in July.

    The court in the old Silk Road city of Kashgar found the accused guilty of a variety of crimes, including terrorism, murder, kidnapping and making explosives, according to a statement on the Xinjiang government’s news website.

    Aside from the 12 death sentences, 15 others were given suspended death sentences, nine got life in jail and another 20 received sentences ranging from four to 20 years.

    Earlier in the day, State television said that two men stabbed a policewoman to death in Xinjiang.

    The motorcycle-mounted attackers used sharp weapons to “cruelly attack and kill” the policewoman, China Central Television (CCTV) said on its official microblog.

    It did not specify the ethnicity of the policewoman but judging by her name, she was an ethnic Uygur, China Daily said. CCTV cited a colleague of the woman as saying she was two months pregnant.

    The attack occurred Friday near a market in Pishan County in Hotan Prefecture.

    (SD-Xinhua)