The brutality of the recent attacks on innocent civilians in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region proves that the rioters were terrorists rather than "heroes", as the Western media at times prefer to call them.

The brutal tactics used by the rioters in Xinjiang is typical of terrorists, who believe in "shock and awe" to stun their foes into accepting their demands. There is no place in a civilized society for violence, and this is the principal reason why the international community should unitedly fight against terrorists.

In the latest Xinjiang riots, 24 people, including 16 innocent Uygurs, were killed in Lukqun township of Shanshan county. The rioters attacked the township's police stations, a local government building and a construction site, and set fire to police cars. Twenty-one police officers and civilians were injured.