The Chinese state news agency reported Monday that 156 people were killed and more than 800 injured when rioters clashed with the police Xinjiang after days of rising tensions between members of the Uighur ethnic group and Han Chinese. The casualty toll, if confirmed, would make this the deadliest outbreak of violence in China in many years.

The rioting broke out Sunday afternoon in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, and lasted for several hours before riot police locked down the Uighur quarter of the city.

At least 1,000 rioters took to the streets, stoning the police and setting vehicles on fire. Police officers used fire hoses and batons to beat back rioters and detained Uighurs.

Protests spread to a second city, Kashgar, as 200 to 300 people chanting “God is great” and “Release the people” confronted the riot police in front of the main mosque, the largest in China, at 5.30 pm. But they dispersed when officers began making arrests, said a Kashgar resident.

In the city of Hotan, far south of Urumqi, police officers in riot gear were patrolling the streets in increased numbers on Monday, said a local Uighur.

Local Internet service was largely disabled, and online bulletin boards and search engines across China were purged of references to the violence. The social networking service Twitter was also disabled. China Mobile, the nation’s largest cellphone provider, curtailed service in Urumqi, and cellphone calls from some Beijing numbers to the area were blocked. But Chinese television carried images showing some of the violence.

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