Fifteen officials in Kashgar of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region have been punished for discipline violations, said local authorities on Tuesday.

The decision was announced by Enwaer Tursun, mayor of Kashgar, at a meeting attended by more than 800 local officials.

According to Tursun, offences included abuse of power, applying favoritism, racial discrimination and dereliction of duty in counter-terrorism operations.

One official was "sacked and given a serious warning for his vague understanding, ambiguous attitude, sluggish action and ineffective enforcement of counter-terrorism tasks".

A police officer was expelled for "forwarding racially discriminatory video clips, and spreading false information that undermines ethnic unity".

Tursun stressed that officials should "make Kashgar the frontier and main battlefield in counter-terrorism operations and efforts to maintain stability".

Covering one-sixth of China's territory, Xinjiang has been in the spotlight this year after several terrorism attacks.

Extremists murdered 74-year-old religious leader Jume Tahir on July 30 in China's largest mosque, the Id Kah Mosque in Kashgar.

An attack on July 28 in Shache County, Kashgar Prefecture left 37 civilians dead and 94 injured. Police shot dead 59 terrorists and arrested 215 others.

On May 22, 31 people were killed and 94 were injured when terrorists drove into people at a street market in Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang and threw explosive devices.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for "nets spread from the earth to the sky" to defend against terrorism in Xinjiang, stressing long-term stability as the main goal for the region.

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