BEIJING: The second-in-command of China's Xinjiang region has vowed to crack down on violence with an "iron hand", state media said Monday, weeks after ethnic unrest in the Muslim area left over 190 dead.

"We will continue to resolutely crack down on aggressive moves by the enemies and curb violent crimes with an iron hand," said Nur Bekri, the head of the Xinjiang regional government, according to the Xinhua news agency.

As the top official in Xinjiang's government, Bekri ranks just below the region's communist party head.

Authorities will maintain their efforts to identify and arrest those who participated in the July 5 unrest in the capital Urumqi, Bekri said in a speech addressing the region's legislators.

"We will penetrate and completely destroy the network that planned, incited and organised the incident behind the scenes," the report quoted Bekri as saying.

"We will seriously strengthen the overall control of the society... and nip potential security risks in the bud." Some of Xinjiang's Uighur minority, a mainly Muslim, central Asian people, went on the rampage on July 5, assaulting members of China's dominant Han ethnic group in attacks that left at least 192 people dead.

Uighurs say police sparked the rioting by shooting peaceful protesters who were demanding an investigation into a recent factory brawl in southern China that left at least two Uighur migrant workers dead.

However, officials said police opened fire to prevent further bloodshed, and killed 12 "mobsters", according to a previous Xinhua report.