Q+A - Who are the Uighurs and why did they riot?

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese police have arrested more than 1,400 suspects in connection with rioting in the capital of Muslim Xinjiang region which left 156 people dead and more than 800 injured, state media said on Tuesday.

The Chinese government has blamed exiled separatists for the unrest in regional capital Urumqi on Sunday -- the worst case of ethnic unrest in years.

WHO ARE THE UIGHURS?

Xinjiang is home to about 8 million Uighurs, or almost half of the region's total population. Many Uighurs -- a Turkic, largely Islamic people who share linguistic and cultural bonds with Central Asia -- resent the growing presence and economic grip of Han Chinese as well as government controls on religion and culture.

Exiled Uighur militants have been agitating to establish an independent East Turkestan in oil-rich Xinjiang bordering Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia.

China has accused Uighur militants of staging a series of terrorist attacks on Chinese civilians since the 1990s and hinted at their links with al Qaeda, but human rights groups said Beijing used its support for the previous U.S. administration's "war on terror" to justify a crackdown on Uighurs.

WHY DID UIGHURS RIOT?