Beijing  - China is expected to begin trials this week of more than 200 people accused of taking part in ethnically based rioting that left scores dead in the far western region of Xinjiang, state media said on Monday.

The number charged with offences including murder, robbery and vandalism is more than double the total previously announced by regional prosecutors, the official China Daily newspaper said.

Prosectors said most of those facing trial were from the regional capital, Urumqi, and the city of Kashgar.

Police had detained 718 people for taking part in rioting that began on July 5 and left 197 people and more than 1,600 injured in Urumqi, the newspaper said.

Other charges include assault and "organizing crowds" to injure others and "disrupt public order," it said.

All trials will be open to the public except for those involving charges of "splitting the state," the newspaper said.

Members of the Uighur minority rampaged through Urumqi and attacked Han Chinese residents and police on July 5.

Reports by Uighurs exile groups said the violence began after riot police confronted Uighur protesters, while the government has claimed the violence was organized by "overseas separatist forces."

Han Chinese residents marched through Urumqi and attacked Uighurs two days after the initial rioting.

The Uighur exile groups have said that up to 800 people died in the violence, many of them Uighurs shot or beaten to death by police.

In mid-July, a senior official admitted that police had killed 12 "mobsters" during the rioting.

Police shot the rioters after warning shots proved ineffective, Nur Bekri, chairman of the regional government, was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua news agency. (dpa)