URUMQI -- Police in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region apprehended two suspects for spreading rumors of a terrorist attack in Shache county in Kashgar prefecture on Sunday.

The rumors have been circulating on messaging application WeChat and other Internet forums over the past few days, according to the regional government's publicity department.

Police have traced the source of the rumors to a suspect surnamed Sun in Kashgar and another surnamed Jiao in Hami region.

The two have confessed the charges.

Shache has been hard hit by two terrorist attacks this year.

A gang of terrorists with knives and axes killed 37 civilians in an attack on July 28. A local court sentenced 12 of the terrorists to death and 15 others to death with a two-year reprieve in October.

Another attack on Nov. 29 saw 15 people, including 11 mobsters, killed and another 14 people were injured.

Police said rumors on a new attack violate the regulation on public security administrative punishments, and the suspects should be held responsible.

Violators of the regulation can be penalized from receiving police warnings, fines to a 15-day detention.