The state-run China News Service reported Monday that nine people have been executed in connection with ethnic riots last July that killed about 200 people in western China’s Xinjiang region.

The service said that the executions occurred “recently,” but added no more information about the executions.

According to the Chinese news agency Xinhua, after a June melee at a toy factory in Guangdong province, long-simmering resentment between Uyghurs and Han Chinese flared, leading to the July 5 riots.

Xinhua added that a massive brawl broke out between the ethnic groups at the factory, resulting in the deaths of two Uyghurs.

In a rare public display of dissatisfaction, thousands of Uyghurs–many of whom feel they are treated as second-class citizens by the majority Han Chinese–took to the streets in Xinjiang province, chanting and screaming.

The Uyghurs are mostly Muslims who live in Xinjiang province, which is also called East Turkistan by some Islamists.

(article source: CNN, photo source: Euro-China Business)