The government of the restive western Chinese region of Xinjiang is stepping up security amid a widening crackdown on Uighurs after ethnic unrest earlier this month that left more than 190 dead and many more wounded.

The move came as Nuer Baikeli, Xinjiang’s regional governor, admitted in a public statement on Sunday that Chinese police shot dead 12 Uighur rioters in the region, in a rare government admission of the deaths inflicted by security forces. He claimed that the rioting was an attempt by exiled separatists to split Xinjiang from China.