A state-appointed chief imam from China's largest mosque was killed by Muslim Uighurs on Wednesday in what is believed to have been premeditated murder, according to state-run media Tianshen.

Jume Tahir, 74, was found lying in a pool of blood in front of the Id Kah, the largest mosque in Kashgar City, Xinjiang on Wednesday morning just after the mosque's morning prayers.

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Local authorities were able to identify the three suspects, but had killed two of the assumed assailants and detained the other after the group had reportedly resisted arrest with axes and knives.

The three suspects were identified as Nuermaimaiti Abidilimiti, Maimaiti Jiangremutila and Tuergong Tuerxun though it is unclear which of the three had died, the Associated Press reported.

Further investigations on the imam's death are still underway.

Tahir's death comes just days after Muslim Uighurs and police engaged in a deadly clash in northwest Xinjiang.

Police claimed the Uighurs had instigated the attacks, citing the group's intent to fight for an independent Xinjiang. According to the Chinese government, gangs armed with axes and knives went on a rampage on Monday in Shache county just outside the city of Kashgar.

About 200 people are estimated to have died from the fighting, according to Aljazeera.

The Uighurs accused local authorities' "heavy-handed Ramadan crackdown" and blamed them for shooting people who protested against Xinjiang's edict that prohibited the Muslim's from fasting.  

Tahir, who was part of Xinjiang's Uighur minority, was a vocal supporter of the Communist Party's policies, making him unpopular in some circles within the Uighur community.

The 74-year-old had made no secret of his condemnation of Uighur separatists whom he claimed were responsible for the violence in Xinjiang.

Radio Free Asia cited a Kashgar city teacher who said that the imam had grown especially unpopular among the Uighurs after he had backed the government's bloody crackdown on the group since the Urumqi riots.

Tahir was the Xinjiang Islamic Association's deputy president and a former deputy of the National People's Congress (NPC).

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