The Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region will continue to tighten security in border areas to prevent terrorists from entering or leaving the region illegally in 2017, the chairman of the region said.

The region already stepped up efforts in entry-exit management in 2016, said Shohrat Zakir, the Xinjiang chairman, while delivering his work report at the annual session of the regional People's Congress in Urumqi, the capital, on Monday.

Many terrorists who carried out attacks in the region in recent years received training abroad and then returned illegally. Some also crossed the border illegally to flee, said Aniwar Turson, a top Party official of southern Xinjiang's Kashgar prefecture.