Blast at train station in China's Urumqi, some injured - media

The blast happened at Urumqi's south railway station, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The People's Daily said on its official microblog that some people had been injured and taken to hospital.

Neither of the media outlets said what caused the blast.

Pictures on China's Twitter-like Weibo service, which Reuters could not independently verify, showed blood on suitcases and debris on the ground in front of the station.

Another picture showed what appeared to be a small blast area near a police post, though it was unclear if there were any casualties in the photograph.

Calls to the Xinjiang government seeking comment were not answered.

"Police are evacuating people in surrounding areas," Xinhua said. "Police have cordoned off all entrances to the square of the station. Armed police have been deployed in the square."

The blast came just as President Xi Jinping was wrapping up a four-day visit to the region. It was not clear if he was still in Xinjiang at the time.

Xinjiang, resource-rich and strategically located on the borders of central Asia, has been beset by violence for years, blamed by the government on Islamist militants and separatists.

Exiles and many rights groups say the real cause of the unrest is China's heavy-handed policies, including curbs on Islam and the culture and language of the Muslim Uighur people who call Xinjiang home.

China's nervousness about Islamist militancy has grown since a car burst into flames on the edge of Beijing's Tiananmen Square in October, and 29 people were stabbed to death last month in the southwestern city of Kunming.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Robert Birsel)

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