Over 50 people were injured today by a blast at a railway station in Urumqi, the capital of China’s fractious Xinjiang autonomous region.

An explosion went off hours after President Xi Jinping left the region following a four-day visit.

The station was cordoned off as ambulances and police cars arrived at the scene and people were evacuated.

Train services were suspended, although the station was reported later to have reopened.

President Xi had attended a pre-May Day event in Urumqi in the morning with fellow politbureau member Yu Zhengsheng and Xinjiang Communist Party secretary Zhang Chunxian.

His visit was focused on tightening security after a spate of attacks blamed on separatists from the indigenous Uighur people.

State TV news programmes showed him shaking hands with police in helmets and bulletproof vests.

“We must take care of our front-line officers,” he said. 

“You need to protect yourselves and make achievements at tasks such as better serving the people in the future and safeguarding social stability.”