( CNN ) -- Police shot and killed eight people who attacked a police station in Xinjiang , a restive region in northwestern China , authorities said Monday . Nine people armed with knives threw explosives at the building and set police cars on fire , the Xinjiang government said on its official news website . One of the people was taken into custody , the statement said , describing the attackers as `` thugs . '' The violence took place around 6:30 a.m. in Yarkant County in western Xinjiang and is under investigation , authorities said . It 's the latest outbreak of deadly unrest in Xinjiang , a large , resource-rich region that is home to the Uyghurs , a Turkic-speaking , predominantly Muslim ethnic group . Earlier this month , a clash in the region left 14 Uyghurs and two police officers dead , authorities said . Chinese officials said the two police officers came under attack as they were trying to apprehend suspects . The arrival in Xinjiang of waves of Han Chinese people over the decades has fueled tensions with the Uyghurs . Chinese authorities have cracked down heavily on violence involving Uyghurs , deepening resentment . The government statement about Monday 's clash did n't specify the ethnicity of the people who fought with police . The details of violent encounters in Xinjiang often remain murky . Uyghur diaspora groups , like the World Uyghur Congress , have criticized the Chinese government for the lack of transparency over such events . Chinese authorities have blamed Uyghurs for a vehicle attack in Beijing 's Tiananmen Square in October that killed five people -- including the three in the vehicle -- and wounded 40 others . Xinjiang 's worst violence in decades took place in July 2009 , when rioting in the capital , Urumqi , between Uyghurs and Han Chinese killed some 200 people and injured 1,700 . That unrest was followed by a crackdown by security forces .
Police officers shoot and kill eight people and arrest one other , authorities say . The people attacked a police station in the volatile region of Xinjiang , they say . Comment: