Fewer people attended Friday prayers in Urumqi mosques in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region amid hypodermic needle attacks scare and protests demanding security guarantees, said a local official.

About 52,000 people had visited mosques on the week's main day of worship for Muslims, the official said.

On Friday 381 mosques opened while 51 were closed because of traffic controls or repair work.

The situation in the mosques had been stable, the official said.

"About 1.6 million Muslims attended Friday prayers in Xinjiang," said Liu Nian, director of No. 1 religion department of the region's religious affairs bureau.

"The prayer activities were normal across the region, except there were less attendees in the Kazak Autonomous Prefecture of Ili because of Autumn harvest," Liu said

Xinjiang has more than 8,000 mosques which hold Friday prayers, Liu said.

Urumqi residents during the past two days took to the streets demanding severe punishment on mobsters and guarantees of peace and tranquility after hypodermic syringe attacks caused panic in the city.

Hospitals in Urumqi were treating 531 victims of hypodermic needle attacks, local police authorities said Friday.

Statistics from the city's 24 hospitals said 106 of the 531 were showing obvious signs of needle attacks.

The victims included members of ethnic groups such as Han, Uygur and Kazak.

(Xinhua News Agency September 5, 2009)