China to execute Uighur murderers

The country's highest court has approved the executions of four men convicted of a series of murders in the restive western region of Xinjiang last year.

The four were accused of killing nine people in three separate incidents between August and November of last year, a Xinjiang-based website reported yesterday.

All those accused had names identifying them as Uighurs, a Turkic Muslim ethnic group that sees Xinjiang as its homeland. Many Uighurs resent what they perceive as heavy-handed rule by Beijing.