Kazakh Consulate checking if Kazakhstani were hurt in Urumqi explosion

According to local police, the explosion killed one and injured 40 people. The exact number of wounded is still unknown. The explosion at the railway station in Urumqi thundered about 7:00 a.m. Beijing time. The blast came just as President Xi Jinping was wrapping up a four-day visit to the region. It was not clear if he was still in Xinjiang at the time. Xinjiang, resource-rich and strategically located on the borders of central Asia, has been beset by violence for years, blamed by the government on Islamist militants and separatists. Exiles and many rights groups say the real cause of the unrest is China's heavy-handed policies, including curbs on Islam and the culture and language of the Muslim Uighur people who call Xinjiang home. China's nervousness about Islamist militancy has grown since a car burst into flames on the edge of Beijing's Tiananmen Square in October, and 29 people were stabbed to death last month in the southwestern city of Kunming.