An attack in China has left 15 people dead and several others injured, according to the state news agency Xinhua.

The attackers used vehicles, knives and explosives in the assault in the western Xinjiang region, in what officials have called a terrorist attack.

Eleven of those killed were described as the "mobsters" who drove into a street of food stalls, threw explosive devices and stabbed people.

Xinjiang is frequently hit by unrest triggered by tensions between China's ethnic Han majority and the Turkic-speaking Muslim Uighurs. Authorities regularly blaming Uighur militants for the violence.

Some Uighurs in the north west Chinese region are hostile to Beijing's leadership.

They say they are victims of discrimination and left out of the benefits of development in Xinjiang, which has seen an influx of Han Chinese moving in from elsewhere in the country.