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A senior Chinese official has pledged to crackdown on 'separatist forces' in Xinjiang, three years after ethnic violence there. According to the BBC, Zhang Chunxian vowed to use 'iron fists' on separatists in the region. The warning comes on the anniversary of deadly ethnic riots in 2009 in which almost 200 people were killed. Zhang, who is Communist Party secretary of the Xinjiang committee, urged soldiers to remain vigilant against hostile forces and strike separatists, terrorists and extremists with 'iron fists'. "We should leave terrorists no place to hide," he said, adding that the region was stable but faced 'severe challenges'. Rights group Amnesty International has accused China of intimidating the ethnic Uighur minority. Xinjiang province is the country's most westerly region and borders former Soviet states. According to the report, China had witnessed its worst ethnic violence in decades when riots erupted between the majority Han Chinese and the minority Uighurs in Urumqi . The Turkic-speaking Uighurs, who have lived in China 's shadow for centuries, accused Beijing of religious and political persecution.

Threat of crackdown on separatist forces in Xinjiang