At least 31 people were killed and 90 have been injured after a terrorist attack occurred on Thursday in the capital of Xinjiang Province in Western China. The incident happened at 7:50 a.m. in an open-air market, as two SUVs drove into shoppers and explosives were thrown out of the vehicles, as reported by Xinhua, China's official news agency. After plowing through the market, the vehicles then exploded, killing and injuring those in the immediate area. An eyewitness recalls that there were a total of about a dozen blasts in what is believed to be an act of terrorism that is being blamed on radical Muslim separatists.

Although it cannot be immediately known who is behind the incident, recent violence has been occurring in the country. This attack has recorded the highest death count since the riots in Urumqi that lasted for days in 2009. Those clashes between the Hans and Uighurs left around 200 people dead. The government has pointed the finger to extremists who are seeking to overthrow the Chinese rule in the local region, which is the native home of Uighurs. However, China's ethnic Han has been coming into the area in huge numbers for decades now. The ethnic riots going on for years are considered to have played a role in the most recent incident.

The attack happened only a couple of days after Xinjiang courts convicted 39 people and sentenced them to prison for crimes involving acts of terrorism, ethnic discrimination, and inciting ethnic hatred. Despite all the tensions and unrests, the Chinese government remains highly confident that it will be able to crack down on the violent terrorists. Security around the city has been tightened considerably following the attack and as Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the area. He then pledged to severely punish the terrorists, sparing no efforts to maintain stability, according to FoxNews.