Dozens of people were killed and injured on Monday after a gang armed with knives and axes terrorized civilians in China's northwestern province of Xinjiang, according to the state-run media Xinhua.

In what is being called an "organized and premeditated" terror attack, the mob also struck a police station and government offices before vandalizing several cars and setting them on fire, the news agency reported according to CNN.

"Police officers at the scene shot dead dozens of members of the mob," the report said according to AFP.

It is not clear how many people were killed in the attack that began in the Xianjing town of Elixhu. The mob then moved on to the neighboring town of Huangdi, attacking civilians and setting at least six cars on fire.

Xianjing is home to Uyghur Muslims, an ethnic minority, Turkic group that have long faced discrimination in western China, according to Amnesty International. China has blamed previous terrorists attacks on Uyghurs, claiming they are Islamic militants trying to establish an independent state, AFP reported.

Another attack in the same region ended with police shooting eight out of nine people who attacked a police station in December 2013, CNN reported. In March, 29 people were killed when knife-wielding men attacked a train station in Kunming.

Another 39 people were killed two months later in an attack on a market in Urmuqi.

Victims in Monday's attack include both Uyghurs and Chinese Han, who are the country's ethnic majority and are reportedly not on good terms with Uyghurs Muslims in the region.

The reason for the attack remains unclear. It came as Muslims celebrated the end of the holy month of Ramadan. Local officials in Xinjian reportedly tried to prevent Muslims from celebrating, according to AFP.