Xiji mosque stampede kills 14

Authorities in Northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region are investigating the cause of a stampede at a religious gathering, which killed 14 people and injured another 10, while vowing to strengthen management of religious activities.

The accident took place at a mosque in Xiji county, which is administered by the city of Guyuan, on Sunday, when a service was held to commemorate the anniversary of a religious figure's death, reported the Guyuan Daily.

According to the report, at around 1 pm Sunday, crowds shoved to receive traditional religious food handed out at the service, leading to the stampede. The injured were immediately sent to hospital, but 14 people later died. Among the 10 injured, four were in critical condition and had been transferred to a hospital in Guyuan.

The head of the Xiji Party committee's publicity department, who only revealed his surname as Ma, told the Global Times on Monday that the investigation is still underway, and the authorities will release the probe results in a timely manner.

The deadly stampede has raised the attention of the country's central leadership, with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang issuing directions for the aftermath, reported the Guyuan Daily.

The Ningxia Daily carried a statement released after a meeting held by the Communist Party of China Ningxia Regional Party Committee on Monday morning, which said the stampede in Xiji was caused by "poor organizing and management of a normal religious activity."

The committee vowed to draw lessons from the accident and reinforce its management of religious activities.

"We should seriously deliberate on ways to strengthen the management of religious affairs, especially on the enacting of specific rules," said the committee, adding that large-scale religious activities should be put under stringent control.

It also vowed to "bring religious activities into the legal track."

An official with the committee's United Front Work Department, which handles ethnic and religious affairs, told the Global Times on Monday that it doesn't mean the authorities will soon call off large-scale religious activities in Ningxia.

"The specific rules enacted in the wake of the stampede wouldn't go beyond existing rules in the country's Regulations on Religious Affairs," he said.

According to the regulations, large-scale religious activities must obtain approval from relevant authorities.

The mosque where the stampede took place is a major site for Jahriyya Muslims in Xiji. Jahriyya is one of the four sects of Islam in China.

In the 1980s and early 1990s, there were frequent sectarian conflicts in Xiji. In 1993, a major sectarian conflict led to heavy casualties in the county, and the then deputy head of Ningxia's political consultative body received a 15-year jail term for inciting homicide in the conflict.