The sacrifice of the three police officers was not in vain. Retired police officer Abduraxman Peyzi said they had given their lives for Xinjiang's stability.

Due to the chaos in the region, simply being a police officer made one a target. The daughter of Xudaberdi Toxti saw terrorists hack her father, a policeman, to death one night, then they killed her brother when he tried to save their father. Peridem said she still feels uneasy when she sees people wearing red since it reminds her of the blood she saw then.

These attacks on regular people and police led to increased security in the region as all manner of violent attacks became more prevalent. Yalqun Yaqup, deputy director general of the Xinjiang Public Security Department, said in an interview with CGTN that the terrorists' methods have become increasingly "brutal" as they use anything from blades and guns to suicide bombings. He showed CGTN for the first time ever a cache of 5,000 homemade grenades seized in 1999 from the terrorist group "Kuresh," as well as 15,000 weapons seized in 2006, some of which were smuggled from abroad.

In the fight against these "violent terrorists," Yalqun Yalqup said law enforcement personnel are doing all they can to fight against rampant terrorism fueled by extremism.

The aim of our documentary is to shine a light on the violence that wracks the far-western region of China, and remember both the individuals who have lost their lives and the survivors in the continuing struggle against the dangerous ideologies that fuel death and despair.

This is the third documentary in our series chronicling how terrorism plagued Xinjiang and how its people have been living through the trauma in its aftermath. We present you with the first two documentaries — each under an hour — below.

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