China's Xinjiang wants more mingling of ethnic groups

Residents select turbans at a shop in downtown Urumqi, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, May 1, 2014. REUTERS/Petar Kujundzic

BEIJING (Reuters) - The different ethnic groups who live in China's violence-prone far western region of Xinjiang should make friends with each other to improve trust between them, the Chinese government's top official there was quoted as saying on Monday.

Hundreds of people have been killed in violence in Xinjiang in the past few years. The government blames the unrest on Islamist militants who want to establish an independent state called East Turkestan for minority Uighurs, a mostly Muslim people who speak a Turkic language and hail from Xinjiang.