Human Rights Watch says dozens of members of China's Uighur minority remain unaccounted for three months after ethnic rioting broke out in the Urumqi, the capital of the north-western region of Xinjiang.

The New York-based group says 43 people disappeared, including a boy of 12 and a boy of 14. Human Rights Watch believes the real number of disappearances is much higher.

After the rioting, Chinese police sealed off entire neighbourhoods of the regional capital. Residents say that males between 12 and 45 who had injuries or were not at home during the rioting were hauled away.

Around 200 people died and 1,600 were injured in the rioting, which was in response to fighting between Uighurs and Han Chinese at a factory in which two Uighurs were killed.

So far nine people have been sentenced to death for their role in the rioting. Hundreds of people must still appear in court.

The Islamic Uighurs say they are discriminated against by the Chinese authorities and Han Chinese immigrants, who in recent decades have emigrated to the region en masse.
 

Uighur mosque in Khotan (Xinjiang region)
Photo by Wikimedia Commons