Beijing  - The death toll has risen to at least 184 from several days of ethnic violence in China's far western city of Urumqi, state media said Saturday.

The dead included 137 members of China's Han majority, 111 of whom were men, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Forty-six members of the city's Uighur minority also died in the violence, the agency quoted the regional government in Xinjiang, of which Urumqi is the capital, as saying.

The previous casualty toll, announced early Tuesday, stood at 156 dead and more than 1,000 injured.

Uighur exile groups said, however, that up to 800 people have died in the violence, many of them Uighurs shot or beaten to death by police during rioting Sunday and Monday.

Several major mosques were closed in Urumqi Friday, forcing Muslims to hold prayers at home, as the government used police, troops and public appeals in a bid to prevent more conflict between Uighur and Han Chinese residents. (dpa)