URUMQI - Police opened fire during a hostage rescue mission and killed seven kidnappers in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region on Wednesday night, local authorities said on Thursday.

A group of "violent terrorists" kidnapped two people in the remote mountainous area of Pishan county, Hotan prefecture, at about 11 pm on Wednesday. Police opened fire when the kidnappers "resisted arrest", a spokesman for the Xinjiang autonomous regional government said.

Seven kidnappers were shot dead, and four others were wounded and arrested. One police officer was killed and another wounded. The two hostages were freed.

No more details were immediately available as authorities are still investigating the case.

But there was speculation that the kidnapping was linked to a surge in religious extremism in the Muslim Uygur-dominated area that borders the Kashmir region controlled by Pakistan and India.

Police reported another kidnapping earlier this month in Pishan in which extremists kidnapped and murdered a Uygur man for drinking alcohol, an act considered taboo by Muslims.

"I salute the police officer who sacrificed his life for the people," a micro-blogger wrote on Sina weibo, China's most popular micro blog service.

"There should be zero tolerance for violence and terrorism," wrote another micro-blogger. "The government must hard-handedly fight violent groups, otherwise the government is negligent."

Pishan, like many towns and villages in the south of Xinjiang, is predominantly populated by Uygurs. Han people, China's majority ethnicity, account for less than 2 percent of the population there.

The region is no stranger to violence. In the nearby city of Hotan, a mob stormed a police station in July, hurling burning gasoline cylinders into rooms, taking hostages, and attacking people indiscriminately with axes and knives. Eighteen people, including 14 attackers, were killed in the clash with police.

Days after the violence, two separate public attacks occurred in the Kashgar, another city in the south of Xinjiang, leaving 13 people dead and 44 injured.

Authorities said overseas-trained terrorists were responsible for the attacks.

Four suspects involved in the Hotan and Kashgar attacks were sentenced to death by a court in September.

Uygurs traditionally practice a moderate form of Islam. But security experts said recent violence shows religious extremism is on the rise.

The trend could lead to more bloodshed if left unchecked, because extremists are becoming bolder and their attacks more violent, experts warned.

Storeowners and vendors in some rural areas of Pishan said they are afraid to sell alcoholic beverages and cigarettes because of the possibility of retaliation.

One resident told Xinhua News Agency the lifestyle of Uygurs "had been seriously affected" by the rise of an extremist atmosphere in recent years.

Xinjiang's top official, Zhang Chunxian, has ordered harsh punishments for religious extremists as the government clamps down on terrorism.

Zhang, secretary of the Xinjiang regional committee of the Communist Party of China, ordered officials to engage the public's aid in curbing illegal religious activities, incitation of violence with various pretexts and organized terrorist attacks.

He said the handling of religious affairs should follow the central government's policy of "protecting the legitimate, banning the illegal, fighting infiltration and cracking down on crimes."

Xinhua - China Daily