The top government official of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region visited civilians injured in a pair of violent attacks in the remote desert oasis city of Kashgar over the weekend and vowed to severely crack down on those who instigate such violence.

In his visit to Kashgar on Monday, chairman of the regional government Nur Bekri also called for people in Xinjiang, a vast area with mixed Han and Uygur ethnic groups, to unite in the face of tragedy.

He told injured civilians Chen Wei and Chen Fen'e in a local hospital that the government would go all out to counter the violence that threatens people's lives and the terrorist suspects would be given severe punishments in accordance with the law.

At least 14 people were killed, 42 others wounded in two attacks in Kashgar over the weekend.

On Saturday night, two people hijacked a truck after killing the driver and drove it into a crowded street. The suspects then jumped out of the truck wielding knives and hacked bystanders randomly.

On Sunday afternoon, a group of people set fire to a restaurant and started randomly attacking civilians with knives in downtown Kashgar.

Police opened fire and shot dead five suspects while killing the other two in a pursuit on Monday.

The government authorities classified Sunday's attack as an act of terrorism and blamed a group of religious extremists led by overseas-trained militants of the "East Turkistan Islamic Movement" (ETIM) in Pakistan for engineering the attack.

Local police officers told Xinhua that though no evidence was found showing that the two attacks were linked, Saturday's attack was also meticulously planned over a long period of time.

In an inspection of security forces, Nur Bekri told army personnel and armed police officers that they should be reminded of the "difficult nature of the anti-separatism work."

"The battle against separatist activities will be tough and might go on for a long time," he said.

Tightened security

Shops on Kashgar's main commercial street where Sunday's attack was carried out were closed while fully-armed police officers, including riot squads, patrolled the roads throughout the city.

"We are deeply worried. The restaurant is closed and employees have been sent home on a break," said Wu Congkuan, a fish pot restaurant owner.

Wu said the security of Kashgar was good and no one had anticipated anything as bloody as what occurred on Sunday afternoon.

Witnesses said attackers first killed the owner of a restaurant that sold spicy chicken and noodles, a local delicacy, and then burned down the establishment. Following this, the attackers robbed firearms from the local police station and exchanged fire with police officers.

Ismailjang, a young man of Uygur ethnic minority in Kashgar, said people should do good things during Ramadan and he felt sad the terrorist attacks happened ahead of the holy month.

"Islam doesn't incite believers to kill people and do bad things," Ismailjang said, blaming religious extremism and separatists for the terrorist attacks.p The city authorities have ordered strengthened security to prevent further attacks.

Cheng Zhenshan, the top official of Kashgar, vowed to fight separatists, religious extremists and terrorists with "iron fists." He said the authorities would not show any leniency in counting terrorism.

He also urged strengthened efforts in information gathering at the city's key spots and highly-populated areas to pre-empt strikes from hostile forces.

Xinjiang -- with 41.5 percent of its population Uygurs, a Muslim Chinese ethnic group -- is China's frontline against terrorism. The region borders eight countries, many of which including Pakistan and Afghanistan have been plagued by terrorism.

Xinjiang has barely recovered from a deadly riot in July 2009, the worst outbreak of violence in decades. Rock-flinging and knife-wielding thugs looted shops, torched vehicles and killed nearly 200 people in the regional capital Urumqi.

The government blamed overseas groups for inciting the riots.