(China Daily/Agencies)

URUMQI: Calm returned on Sunday to China's riot-hit Urumqi where 184 people died in the bloody violence a week ago, though the official tally of dead could rise, a regional official indicated.

Shops were open and heavy traffic returned to the streets of Urumqi. Police with riot gears were inspecting checkpoints, combing coaches for runaway suspects involved in the deadly violence as officials set stability as their top priority.

The death toll may continue to climb from the existing 184, with authorities saying Sunday that 74 of the injured are on the verge of death.

The number of people injured in the violence that broke out in the capital city on July 5 has risen to 1,680 as of Sunday, according to the government of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

Of the injured, 939 are still hospitalized, said regional government Chairman Nur Berkri in a televised speech Sunday. Two hundred sixteen of those hospitalized are seriously injured, he said.

The Xinjiang regional government raised the fatalities from 156 to 184 on Saturday.

A fire at an oil refinery operated by PetroChina on the outskirts of the city was quickly extinguished on Sunday morning, but police and refinery officials ruled out a deliberate attack.

On Saturday, Zhou Yongkang, China's top leader in charge of security affairs, toured the southern Xinjiang cities of Kashgar and Hotan, calling for a "steel wall" of security to "win the tough war of maintaining Xinjiang's stability."

Authorities must "nip all hidden dangers in the bud," he said, and blamed the riot on "hostile forces" at home and abroad.

Nur Berkri said all of those injured in the violence would be treated at the expense of the government.

The authorities will dispense special compensation plus funeral fees - 210,000 yuan ($30,730) for each bereaved family - as soon as possible, he said.

Nur Berkri said the government will go all out to capture and penalize all of the rioters.

Government figures released Sunday also show that 627 vehicles, including buses, vans and police cars, were smashed and torched in the violence and 184 of them were badly damaged.

As of Sunday, 633 construction units, an area of more than 21,000 sq m, had been damaged.

Police arrested about 200 more suspects Thursday and Friday, according to local newspaper reports.

On Saturday, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) conveyed condolences to the families of the victims.

The SCO member states regard the situation in Xinjiang as China's internal affairs and believe that measures taken by the Chinese government can restore peace and order in the region, a statement said.

The statement, issued by the SCO's rotating Secretary-General Bolat Nurgaliev, vowed that the SCO would focus on fighting terrorism, separatism, extremism and transnational organized crime.

During his visit to Hotan and Kashgar, Zhou Yongkang, a Standing Committee member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said although the situation in the region was "heading in a good direction", hostile forces from home and abroad are still "attempting to stage more sabotage".

Zhou urged government and Party departments, troops on duty and public security authorities to remain on high alert.

The center of Urumqi was tense but calm Sunday, except for an oil tank explosion.

The explosion happened about 9:50 am at a refinery of the Urumqi Petrochemical Company in the Midong district in northern Urumqi. The fire was extinguished at 10:30 am, and no casualties were reported. Police ruled out sabotage after an investigation.

Armed police continued to patrol major streets of the city, though in smaller groups and less frequently.

Residents said they didn't mind the presence of armed police on the streets.