Police in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region rejected rumors on the Internet that a young man from Aksu prefecture was killed by police for running red traffic lights. Instead, the man was shot dead for refusing to stop at checkpoints and for assaulting officers, they said.

A man who spread the rumors online has been detained.

Abudulbasit Abulimit, from Yuerqin township of southern Xinjiang's Keping county, ran through two checkpoints on a motorcycle around 11:40 pm on April 12. The officers at the checkpoints fired warning shots but they were ignored by Abudulbasit, the police said in a statement released on Thursday. Abudulbasit then attacked the officers and attempted to take firearms from them, the police statement said.