Beijing - China on Friday confirmed that two police officers were stabbed to death and five others were injured during the latest in a series of attacks in the restive Central Asian region of Xinjiang.

The officers were "investigating a previous case" when they were ambushed by attackers who were hiding in a cornfield on Wednesday night in Xinjiang's Jiashi county, the official Xinhua news agency quoted a police spokesman as saying.

Police were investigating the attack, the agency said without giving any further details.

Beijing  - Two Chinese paramilitary police were killed in a clash with Uighurs in the restive Central Asian region of Xinjiang, leading to the arrest of at least 20 people, Uighur activists said Thursday.

Two officers were seriously injured and several others were hurt in the clash that occurred Wednesday in Xinjiang's Jiashi city, about 100 kilometres east of China's westernmost city of Kashgar, Dilxat Raxit of the German-based World Uyghur Congress said in a statement.

More than 20 Uighurs were detained after the clash, Raxit quoted witnesses as saying.

A hospital employee in Jiashi county confirmed the clash had taken place but declined to give details on the number of casualties while local police refused to comment.

Beijing - China launched a 10-day torch relay for the Paralympic games on Thursday, four days after the closing of the Olympics.

Premier Wen Jiabao announced the start of the relay as he lit a cauldron at Beijing's Temple of Heaven.

"The flame will symbolize over the next 10 days the unique sporting spirit displayed by Paralympic athletes," Philip Craven, president of the International Paralympic Committee, said in a speech at the launch ceremony.

A total of 850 bearers will carry the Paralympic torch along two "ancient" and "modern" routes through 11 Chinese regions before the opening of the 13th Paralympic Games in Beijing on September 6.

Beijing, Aug 27 : Over 960 million people had access to phones in China as of July, including over 600 million mobile phone users, said the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

Beijing - A leading Chinese dissident was released from prison on Tuesday after serving 16 years of a 20-year sentence, the Hong Kong-based Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said.

Hu Shigen, 53, was arrested in May 1992 as he and other democracy activists were planning to distribute leaflets by remote-controlled planes in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

The stunt was planned to coincide with the third anniversary of the ruling Communist Party's military crackdown on protesters on June 4, 1989.

Hu had also helped to found the China Liberal Democratic Party and the China Free Trade Union.