Fresh clashes kill 12 in troubled China region

12 people have been killed in three separate explosions and clashes between assailants and police in China's troubled Xinjiang region, state media reported.

Home to the Uighur ethnic minority, the province was hit by three explosives which hit a hair salon, a produce market and a vehicle that exploded after it was surrounded by police.

The blasts killed six people.

A further six people were also shot dead by police after assailants belonging to the ethnic minority three explosives at police, triggering a clash. 

Five further suspects were apprehended.

Xinjiang is home to low-intensity insurgency by Turkic Muslim Uighurs against what they see as discrimination and religious suppression by China's majority Han people.

The government has responded with a crackdown on what it calls terrorism incited by separatists who are influenced by radical Islam.

Last year, clashes between authorities and members of the minority group left scores dead, including 40 police officers.

The violence included an unprecedented attack on Tiananmen Gate in Beijing that killed three Uighur assailants and two tourists last year.