Death toll hits 150 in Henan ethnic disturbances

While state media remained under a blackout, foreign news reports spoke of 150 dying in ethnic clashes that began last week and widened over the weekend in central Henan province, parts of which remain under martial law. Violence reportedly first flared when a taxi driven by a Hui Muslim hit and killed a young Han girl, unleashing round after round of inter-ethnic recrimination. Eighteen police were reported killed in efforts to take control of the situation. Muslims, dispersed across China, are most concentrated in northwestern Xinjiang autonomous region where Muslim Uighurs have been involved in periodic independence uprisings.