Harsh penalties: The eight were sentenced to death in the same court that sentenced Uighur professor Ilham Tohti to life in prison in September for "separatist activities". Photo: AP

Beijing: A court in western China announced Monday that it had sentenced eight people to death for two separate attacks that Chinese officials called terrorist operations, state media reported.

The court in Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang region, said an additional five people were given suspended death sentences, which usually means life in prison. One person was sentenced to a life term, and three others were given sentences ranging from five to 10 years.

Ethnic violence has been on the rise in Xinjiang in recent years. State news organisations have frequently reported on details of attacks carried out there by ethnic Uighurs, many of whom resent policies imposed by a government dominated by the Han, the largest ethnic group in China. Han-dominated security forces have in turn killed many of the predominantly Muslim Uighurs. In all, hundreds of people have died in clashes this year.

Those sentenced on Monday all appeared to be ethnic Uighurs, judging from the names printed in the state news reports.

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Of the death sentences, two were for a train station attack in April in Urumqi. One person was killed and 79 people were injured in that attack, according to official reports. The attackers brandished knives and set off explosives.

Besides those receiving the death penalty, three people were given suspended death sentences and one person was given five years in prison for that assault. Six other people were sentenced to death on Monday for an attack in May on a morning market in Urumqi in which 39 people were killed and at least 90 injured. The attackers drove two cars into the market and set off homemade explosives, according to official reports.

For that attack, two people were also given suspended death sentences, one was given life in prison and two were given 10-year prison terms. The sentencing took place at the People's Intermediate Court in Urumqi. In September, the same court sentenced a Uighur professor of economics who had been living and teaching in Beijing, Ilham Tohti, to life in prison for what prosecutors called separatist activities. Dr Tohti was widely considered a moderate voice who encouraged dialogue between Uighurs and Han, and the court's ruling was widely condemned by human rights advocates, diplomats and scholars outside China.

Last month, the court put seven students of Dr Tohti's on trial for belonging to a separatist group. The students, all members of ethnic minorities, mainly worked on a website that Dr Tohti had set up to openly discuss political and social issues. That trial ended without any announcements of verdicts.

The Chinese authorities have applied the death sentence liberally to cases in which Uighurs have been charged with deadly attacks. Eight people were executed in relation to an attack in October 2013 in front of the Tiananmen Gate in Beijing. Two tourists died in that attack. In the case of a knife assault in March on people in a train station in the southwestern city of Kunming, three people were sentenced to death, and one person, a pregnant woman, received life in prison. Dozens of other Uighurs have been executed or given death sentences this year.