Thousands of Han Chinese roamed the streets of the western city of Urumqi yesterday looking for vengeance after Sunday's deadly riots as China's leaders struggled to regain control of the country's only Muslim-majority region.

Men and women of all ages, girls in high heels and young men in smart white shirts, brandished wooden staves, billiard cues, iron bars and even machetes as they surged towards the main city bazaar.

They were determined to attack the business heart of the Muslim Uighur minority blamed for the carnage in which 156 were killed and more than 800 injured.

The streets were lined with black-clad riot police and thousands of paramilitaries in camouflage and bulletproof vests who barred the mob's way to the central market. Occasional bursts of tear gas failed to deter the angry crowd.

At one point the Urumqi Communist Party secretary, the most senior official in the Xinjiang capital, climbed on to the roof of a Landcruiser to address the mob.

Li Zhi used a megaphone to respond to shouts of "punish the killers". He said: "I have heard what you want and we will do this. We will punish them severely."

The crowd shouted back: "Words are not enough."

Li replied: "But you are behaving in just the same way as they behaved. Please go home. Thank you."

A huge roar erupted from the mob, who turned away, beating their sticks on the road as they made their way down People's Road in search of another entry to the market. One angry Han shouted at a foreign reporter: "Don't speak to foreigners. Foreigners get out."

He then referred to the exiled Uighur leader whom the Government blames for inciting Sunday's unrest. "Rebiya Kadeer is Osama."

Many of those in the crowd complained that the Government had been too restrained in its response to Sunday's violence, most of the victims of which appear to have been Han Chinese cut down by Uighurs armed with knives.

One young man in his twenties carrying a wooden stave said: "The Government is far too soft. They don't dare to go out even though a hundred people have been killed."

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