Beijing - A court in China's far western city of Urumqi on Monday sentenced to death six men from the Uighur minority after convicting them of violent crimes during ethnic rioting that left 197 people dead in July.

The Urumqi Intermediate People's Court found the men guilty of murder, arson, robbery and other violent crimes, the official Xinhua news agency reported from the city.

A seventh Uighur man was sentenced to life in prison for similar offences following a trial of the seven earlier Monday, the agency said.

All seven accused were convicted of multiple murders, in the first trial of some of the 430 people charged with crimes linked to the rioting in early July.

The agency named the six men sentenced to death as Abdukerim Abduwayit, Gheni Yusup, Abdulla Mettohti, Adil Rozi, Nureli Wuxiu'er, and Alim Metyusup.

It said the seventh defendant, Tayirejan Abulimit, was only sentenced to life in prison because he "confessed to crimes of murder and robbery and helped the police capture Alim Metyusup."

Abdukerim Abduwayit was convicted of killing five people with a dagger and a wrench, and setting fire to a building, the agency said.

Trials of another 14 people charged with murder were expected to be held soon, according to earlier reports.

Prosecutors approved the formal arrest of 430 suspects and had sent cases against 108 suspects for trial by local courts, the agency quoted Liu Bo, the city's deputy chief procurator, as saying.

On Saturday, courts in the southern city of Shaoguan sentenced one man to death and 10 others to long prison terms after they were convicted of an attack on Uighur factory workers that helped spark the rioting in Urumqi.

The 11 men were convicted of attacking workers from the Uighur ethnic group at Shaoguan's Xuri Toy Factory on June 26. At least two Uighurs were beaten to death.

The rioting in Urumqi left 197 people dead and about 1,600 injured, according to the government.

Uighur exile groups claimed that up to 800 people died in Urumqi, many of them Uighurs shot or beaten to death by police.

The rioting apparently began after a protest over the Shaoguan killings escalated into clashes with police and attacks by Uighurs against Han residents of Urumqi.

Urumqi was hit by further violence in late August and early September following reports of attacks by Uighurs using hypodermic needles and other sharp objects.

Local courts sentenced seven Uighurs to long prison terms for attacks with needles, in two separate trials held last month just two weeks after the arrest of the suspects. (dpa)