Following the July 2009 Urumqi riots , the government focused on local economic development in an attempt to ameliorate ethnic tensions in the greater Xinjiang region . Kashgar was made into a Special Economic Zone in 2010 , the first such zone in China 's far west . In 2011 , a spate of violence over two days killed dozens of people . By May 2012 , two-thirds of the old city had been demolished , fulfilling " political as well as economic goals . " In July 2014 , the Imam of the Id Kah Mosque , Juma Tayir , was assassinated in Kashgar
assassinated
Assassination of Juma Tayir
Kashgar