Police in Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, have detained a further 253 suspects from the July 5 riot that left 197 people dead.

Most of the newly-detained suspects charged to be involved in the destruction in Urumqi were turned in by local residents of different ethnic groups, police said on Wednesday.

They were nabbed by police in addition to the more than 1,000 suspects detained by July 6, the second day of the violence. Police did not say how many of the first group of detainees were released.

Days after the fatal violence, the public security department of Xinjiang and Urumqi issued notices urging local people to turn in suspects who were still at large.

"As of July 20, the criminal investigation team of the Urumqi police station has received more than 1,000 pieces of information about suspects from local people. Thanks to this information, extremely bad and difficult cases have been cracked, including the one where a family of five was burned to death in their house," police said.

"It's horrible. If I had not told what I have seen, I would have been tortured by my conscience," an unnamed whistle blower said.

(Xinhua News Agency July 30, 2009)