2011 Hotan attack

2011 Hotan attack
Part of Xinjiang conflict
LocationHotan, Xinjiang, China
Date18 July 2011
12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. (UTC+08:00)
TargetPolice, civilians
Attack type
Invasion of police station, hostage crisis
WeaponsMolotov cocktails, grenades, knives
Deaths18 (14 attackers, two security personnel, two hostages)
InjuredFour hostages
PerpetratorsEast Turkestan Islamic Movement
DefendersNuerbage Street police station
2011 Hotan attack
Simplified Chinese和田骚乱
Traditional Chinese和阗骚乱
Literal meaningHotan incident
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinHétián sāoluàn
IPA[xɤ̌tʰjɛ̌n sáʊlwân]
Alternate name
Chinese和田7·18严重暴力恐怖事件
Literal meaningHotan July 18th serious violent terrorist incident
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinHétián 7·18 yánzhòng bàolì kǒngbù shìjiàn
IPA[xɤ̌tʰjɛ̌n tɕʰíʂɻ̩̌pá jɛ̌nʈʂʊ̂ŋ pâʊlî kʰʊ̀ŋpû ʂɻ̩̂tɕjɛ̂n]

The 2011 Hotan attack was a bomb-and-knife attack that occurred in Hotan, Xinjiang, China on 18 July 2011. According to witnesses, the assailants were a group of 18 young Uyghur men who opposed the local government's campaign against the burqa, which had grown popular among older Hotan women in 2009 but were also used in a series of violent crimes. The men occupied a police station on Nuerbage Street at noon, killing two security guards with knives and bombs and taking eight hostages. The attackers then yelled religious slogans, including ones associated with Jihadism, as they replaced the Chinese flag on top of a police station with another flag, the identity of which is disputed.

After a firefight with police around 1:30 p.m., 14 attackers were killed, and 4 were captured. 6 of the hostages were rescued alive, while 2 were killed in the attack. Local and national governments said the attack was organized terrorism motivated by religious extremism, and found that two of the attackers have links to the militant East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM). A team from China's counter-terrorism office was sent to Hotan to investigate the attack. ETIM acknowledged responsibility for the attack on 8 September, as well as for the attacks in Kashgar later that same July. later in September, 6 men received prison or death sentences for their involvement in both attacks.