BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping ordered a crackdown after a stabbing spree and explosion at a railway station in the restive Muslim-majority region of Xinjiang left three people dead and 79 wounded, state media said Thursday.

The violence came as Xi was wrapping up what state media characterised as an 'inspection tour' of the volatile region in China's far west, during which he had called for a 'strike-first' strategy to fight terrorism.