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(Updates death toll in lead)

July 6 (Reuters) - At least 140 people have died after rioting erupted in China's restive far western region of Xinjiang on Sunday, according to state media, the worst case of ethnic violence in the Muslim area for years. [ID:nSP491283]

Here are some facts about the region.

* Xinjiang in China's largest provincial-level administrative unit by area. It covers one-sixth of the country, but is relatively sparsely populated with around 20 million people.

* It is home to 8 million Uighurs, a Turkic, largely Islamic people who share linguistic and cultural bonds with Central Asia. Many resent the growing Han Chinese economic dominance in Xinjiang, as well as government controls on religion and culture.

* Along with Tibet, Xinjiang is one of the most politically sensitive regions in China, and in both cases the government has sought to maintain its grip by controlling religious and cultural life while also vowing economic growth and prosperity.

* Xinjiang is strategically located at the borders of Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. It has abundant oil reserves and is China's largest natural gas producing region.

* The regional governor, Nuer Baikeli, warned at this year's annual meeting of parliament in Beijing that Xinjiang faced threats from violence rippling across south and Central Asia and enforcing stability there would be tough this year. [ID:nPEK116414]

* Xinjiang was hit by some attacks before and during last year's Olympic Games in Beijing. Chinese security officials blamed the violence on independence-seeking Uighur militants. Sixteen armed police were killed in a bomb and stabbing attack in the far western city of Kashgar.

* The government has accused militant Uighurs of working with Islamist militant group al Qaeda to bring about an independent East Turkestan by violent means.

* Human rights groups say China has used its support for the U.S.-led fight against al Qaeda to justify a wider crackdown on Uighurs, including arbitrary arrests, closed-door trials and application of the death penalty.

* Seventeen Uighur Chinese nationals were detained at the United States' military prison at Guantanamo Bay, after being swept up in security operations following the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001, hijacking attacks.

* Four of the Uighur detainees in Guantanamo were recently released to Bermuda. Their lawyers said the four men never took hostile action against the United States. The other 13 are also looking for a country to take them after the United States found no basis to keep holding them.

Sources: Reuters, Xinhua (Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

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