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But he didn't deny that the incident had occurred, nor that people were injured."They were all taken to the hospital," he said. "I'm not sure of the exact number. I don't have thefigures."Repeated calls to the Tongxin county police department were answered and immediately cut off onTuesday.And repeated calls to the Hexi police station, near where the clashes are reported to have taken place,went unanswered during office hours on Tuesday.IllegalThe initial report from the Hong Kong‐based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy saidtwo people were killed and more than 50 injured in the disturbances.The group said the violence between local Muslims and roughly 1,000 armed officers began after policedeclared a newly built mosque to be illegal, and moved in to demolish it.One Taoshan resident told Reuters he was away at the time of the clash, but that his relatives in thetown believed five people had been killed.The resident, Jin Haitao, said villagers believed the dead included two elderly women, a young man, andtwo people from nearby areas.Residents of nearby areas complained that telephone links with Taoshan had been cut, making itimpossible to verify what had happened.Jin told Hong Kong's Cable Television that local Hui Muslims had spent more than 8 million yuan (U.S.$1.27 million) on the mosque, only to have it torn down by the authorities."They told us that the mosque was illegal, and they said our gathering was an illegal activity," Jin said."They beat us with police batons and bayonets, and the villagers gave no resistance.""My grandmother, an old lady of 80, had already stopped breathing when they were done beating her."'Deep concern'The violence drew rare criticism on Wednesday from the 57‐nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation(OIC)."The [OIC] spokesman expresses his deep concern over reports of a clash between local villagers andpolice resulting in numerous casualties and the destruction of a Mosque in Taoshan village ... in theNingxia Hui Autonomous Region, China," the Saudi Arabia‐based group said in a statement on itswebsite.It said the clashes took place following a police raid on a re‐inauguration of the 1987‐built mosque,Page 29 of 161