By Ben Blanchard

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese police shot dead dozens of knife-wielding attackers on Monday morning after they staged assaults on two towns in the western region of Xinjiang, the official Xinhua news agency said on Tuesday.

A gang armed with knives had first attacked a police station and government offices in the town of Elixku, in Shache county, it said, quoting local police. Some moved on to the nearby town of Huangdi, attacking civilians and smashing and setting fire to six vehicles.

"Police officers at the scene shot dead dozens of members of the mob," the brief report said.

An initial investigation showed that it was an "organised and premeditated terrorist attack", Xinhua added.

The dead and injured include not just Uighurs but members of China's majority Han Chinese population, the report said.

The attack took place at the end of the holy month of Ramadan, which officials had tried to get Muslims in Xinjiang to ignore, in an indication of what rights groups say is discrimination targeting the Uighurs.

Shache, also known by its Uighur name of Yarkant, is located in Xinjiang's heavily Uighur southwestern part, close to the borders of Tajikistan, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Xinjiang, home to many Turkic-speaking Uighurs, has for years been beset by violence, which the government blames on Islamist militants or separatists who it says are bent on establishing an independent state called East Turkestan.

China says Uighur militants have based themselves in countries including Afghanistan and Pakistan in recent years, and this week China's special envoy for the Middle East said some had also likely been trained in Syria and Iraq.

It was not clear why the attack was only being reported on Tuesday, more than a day after it took place, though China's ruling Communist Party, which values stability above all else, had a habit of suppressing or delaying bad news.

Exiled Uighur groups and human rights activists say the government's repressive policies in Xinjiang, including controls on Islam, have provoked unrest, a claim Beijing denies.

China exercises tight control over Xinjiang, making visits by foreign reporters there to independently assess the situation extremely difficult.

Xinjiang, resource-rich and strategically located on the borders of central Asia, is crucial to meeting China's growing energy needs.

Exiles, rights groups and many foreign experts say that most of the proceeds have gone to the Han Chinese, stoking resentment among Uighurs.

More than 200 people have died in unrest in Xinjiang in the past year or so, the government says, prompting a tough crackdown by Beijing.

Violence blamed by China on Uighur extremists has begun to spread outside of Xinjiang. In March, 29 people were stabbed to death at a train station in the southwestern city of Kunming.

(Additional reporting by Megha Rajagopalan and Chen Aizhu,; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

Sweltering summer heat in Japan has left at least 15 people dead over the past week, while more than 8,000 others were rushed to hospital with heatstroke symptoms, official figures showed Tuesday.

At least six people died on Saturday alone, when the state weather agency warned temperatures had topped 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit), with dripping humidity in certain parts of the country.

Nearly 8,600 people were taken to the emergency room for heat-related symptoms in the week through Sunday, more than double the previous week, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said.

The elderly were particularly vulnerable to the rising temperatures, with nearly half of those taken to hospital aged 65 or older, the agency data showed.

The Japan Meteorological Agency has warned that the mercury was expected to top 35 degrees Celsius again on Tuesday.

Last year, Japan experienced its hottest summer on record, with the mercury hitting a record 41 degrees C (105.8 Fahrenheit) in some parts of the country.

Tens of thousands were taken to hospital suffering from heat-related symptoms.

The archipelago nation regularly experiences sweltering summer temperatures.

Heat wave in Japan kills 15

Over 8,000 people were taken to hospitals for heat-related issues as temperatures hovered around 95 degrees.

Dripping humidity

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel unleashed its heaviest air and artillery assault of the Gaza war on Tuesday, destroying key symbols of Hamas control, shutting down the territory's only power plant and leaving at least 128 Palestinians dead on the bloodiest day of the 22-day conflict.

Despite devastating blows that left the packed territory's 1.7 million people cut off from power and water and sent the overall death toll soaring past 1,200, Hamas' shadowy military leader remained defiant as he insisted that the Islamic militants would not cease fire until its demands are met.

The comments by Mohammed Deif in an audiotape broadcast on a Hamas satellite TV channel cast new doubt on international cease-fire efforts. Aides to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Egypt was trying to bring Israeli and Palestinian delegations together in Cairo for new talks in which Hamas would be presented this time as part of the Palestinian team.

Israel's final objective in Gaza remained unclear a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Israelis to be prepared for a "prolonged" war.

Netanyahu is under pressure from hawkish members of his coalition to topple Hamas in an all-out offensive, but has not let on whether he plans to go beyond destroying Hamas rocket launchers, weapons depots and military tunnels used to infiltrate Israel and smuggle weapons.

Dozens of Israeli airstrikes and heavy tank shelling hit areas across Gaza, which was plunged into complete darkness Tuesday night after a strike on its sole power plant set a fuel tank ablaze.

Raw: Massive Explosions From Airstrikes in GazaPlay Video

In the sprawling Jebaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza, at least 24 people — 10 of them from the same family — were killed and dozens wounded in a barrage of tank fire, Hamas health officials said.

"Tanks were firing in all directions and shrapnel was flying," said Moussa al-Mabhouh, a volunteer for Gaza's Civil Defense. "Smoke was rising from houses and from nearby workshops."

In one incident, shrapnel from a strike in Jebaliya hit near a car with U.N. markings, killing an employee of a U.N. aid agency and his brother, and wounding the man's 12-year-old son, said agency spokesman Adnan Abu Hasna.

The Israeli military has said it is targeting Hamas command centers, along with rocket launchers and weapons arsenals, but has not provided explanations when asked about specific strikes in which many members of a single family were killed.

On Tuesday, multiple members of at least five families were pulled from the rubble after airstrikes and tank shells struck their homes, including the mayor of the Bureij refugee camp, his 70-year-old father and three relatives, according to Palestinian health officials.

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Smoke and fire from the explosion of an Israeli strike rises over Gaza City, Tuesday, July 29, 2014. …

In all, at least 1,229 Palestinians have been killed, including 128 on Tuesday, making it the single deadliest day since the start of fighting on July 8, said Palestinian health official Ashraf al-Kidra. More than 7,000 have been wounded, he said.

Israel says it has lost 53 soldiers, along with two Israeli civilians and a Thai national.

Despite the heavy Palestinian losses, Deif, the commander of the Hamas military wing, said fighting would continue. "There is not going to be a cease-fire as long as the demands of our people are not fulfilled," he said.

Hamas has demanded that Israel and Egypt lift a border blockade they imposed on Gaza after Hamas seized the territory in 2007. Over the past year, Egypt has further tightened restrictions, shutting down hundreds of smuggling tunnels under the Egypt-Gaza border that had provide crucial tax income to Hamas. The closure of the tunnels drove Hamas into a severe financial crisis.

Deif's voice was recognizable in the audio statement on Al-Aqsa TV. He has survived repeated Israeli assassination attempts and has operated from hiding for years.

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Smoke and fire from the explosion of an Israeli strike rise over Gaza City, Tuesday, July 29, 2014. …

Al-Aqsa also broadcast a videotape it said showed an infiltration by Hamas fighters into Israel on Monday through a border tunnel. The footage showed armed Palestinians climbing out of a hole in the ground and attacking an Israeli guard post near the border. They were then seen fleeing back down the hole.

The Israeli military said Hamas infiltrated Israeli territory near a communal farm and killed five soldiers on guard nearby. A Hamas gunman was also killed in the attack. Israeli media reported a soldier shot and killed him while he was dragging one of the bodies back to the tunnel.

The military said Palestinian militants fired at least 64 rockets Tuesday at Israeli cities.

Israel has said its troops will not leave Gaza until they have demolished the sophisticated network of Hamas attack tunnels under the Gaza-Israel border and inflicted major damage on the group's arsenal and rocket launchers.

Meanwhile, the miserable living condition of Gaza's 1.7 million people deteriorated even further after two Israeli tank shells struck one of three fuel tanks of Gaza's only power plant. The hit set off a massive fire, and a column of thick putrid smoke rose from the site for hours.

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Smoke rises from the Gaza power plant after it was hit by Israeli strikes, in the Nusseirat refugee …

"We need at least one year to repair the power plant, the turbines, the fuel tanks and the control room," said Fathi Sheik Khalil of the Gaza Energy Authority. "Everything was burned."

The shutdown meant that Gaza has an 80 percent deficit of electricity, said Sari Bashi of the Israeli rights group Gisha. Widespread power outages also disrupt water supplies because electricity is needed to operate water pumps. In Gaza, about 1.2 million have no access to running water, she said.

Maher Salem of the utilities department in the Gaza City municipality said about 600,000 of the city's 800,000 residents were facing water problems.

"But the most catastrophic issue for us, which is the ticking bomb, is that once we have run out of fuel (for back-up generators), we have to shut down the waste water treatment," he said, adding that fuel would last up to four more days.

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the Obama administration urges "all parties to respect the civilian nature of these facilities." The Israeli military has not commented on the shelling of the power plant.

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Smoke and flames rise from the Gaza power plant after it was hit by Israeli strikes, in the Nusseira …

Earlier Tuesday, Israeli warplanes carried out dozens of attacks, leveling the home of the top Hamas leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, and damaging the offices of the movement's Al-Aqsa satellite TV station, a central mosque in Gaza City and government offices.

Haniyeh's house, in a narrow alley of the Shati refugee camp, was reduced to rubble but no one was hurt. Residents placed a large framed portrait of Haniyeh atop the wreckage and draped it with green Hamas flags and Palestinian national banners.

Israel has targeted several homes of Hamas leaders but so far none has been killed. Haniyeh said in a statement Tuesday that "destroying stones will not break our determination."

Meanwhile, two aides to Abbas said the Palestinian leader and the top Hamas official in exile, Khaled Mashaal, are trying to put together a joint delegation that would present Palestinian demands in future cease-fire talks in Cairo.

Abbas and Hamas are former bitter rivals, but took a step toward reconciliation earlier this year when Hamas ceded some power to a technocrat government headed by Abbas.

Egypt has expressed willingness to host indirect talks, but has said the two sides must observe a humanitarian truce of unspecified duration before talks can begin, said the two officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss internal deliberations with the media.

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Alhlou reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Ian Deitch in Jerusalem and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

JEBALIYA REFUGEE CAMP, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli tank shells slammed into a crowded U.N. school sheltering Gaza war refugees Wednesday, killing 15 Palestinians and wounding 90 after tearing through two classroom walls, a health official and a spokesman for a U.N. aid agency said.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment.

The strike in the Jebaliya refugee camp came amid Israel's heaviest air and artillery assault in more than three weeks of Israel-Hamas fighting. Tuesday marked the deadliest day so far, with 128 Palestinians killed, according to a Gaza health official.

The overall Palestinian death toll rose to at least 1,258, with more than 7,100 wounded, said the health official, Ashraf al-Kidra. Israel has lost 53 soldiers and three civilians.

On Wednesday, the military said it hit 75 sites, including five mosques it claimed were being used by militants. At the same time, intense tank shelling was reported in some areas, including in Jebaliya.

Tank shells hit a U.N. school in the camp early Wednesday, said Adnan Abu Hasna, a spokesman for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency. The agency is sheltering more than 200,000 people displaced by the fighting at dozens of U.N. schools in Gaza.

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A Palestinian girl cries while receiving treatment for her injuries caused by an Israeli strike at a …

Starting at around 4:30 a.m., several shells hit the compound of the Abu Hussein school, a few minutes apart, said the principal, Fayez Abu Dayeh. He said shells hit two classrooms and a bathroom.

In one of the classrooms, the front wall was blown out, leaving debris and bloodied clothing. Another strike tore a large round hole into the ceiling of a second floor class-room.

About two hours after the strike, hundreds of people still crowded the courtyard, some dazed, others wailing.

Aishe Abu Darabeh, 56, sat on the ground with her relatives, just a few meters from the destroyed classroom.

"Where will we go?" she asked. "Where will we go next? We fled and they (the Israelis) are following us."

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Palestinians collect body parts in a classroom at the Abu Hussein U.N. school in Jebaliya refugee ca …

Four of the dead were killed just outside the school compound, two in their home and two who were struck in the street after returning from pre-dawn prayers, their relatives said.

The bodies of two members of the al-Najar family, 56-year-old Shaher and his 41-year-old brother, Bassem, were laid out in one of the rooms of their small home, surrounded by wailing relatives.

Outside the gate, another relative held on to his crying son, hugging him tight and saying: "I'm here, I'm not going anywhere."

Al-Kidra, the health official, said at least 15 people were killed and about 90 wounded in the strike on the school.

Abu Hasna, the U.N. agency spokesman, said the international community must step in.

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Palestinian walk by a damaged classroom at the Abu Hussein U.N. school in Jebaliya refugee camp, nor …

"It's the responsibility of the world to tell us what we shall do with more than 200,000 people who are inside our schools, thinking that the U.N. flag will protect them," he said. "This incident today proves that no place is safe in Gaza."

The deadly strike came as Israel intensified its air and artillery assault on what it says are Hamas targets in Gaza.

Israel has vowed to stop the Hamas rocket and mortar fire that has reached increasingly deeper into its territory and to destroy a sophisticated network of Hamas military tunnels used for attacks in Israel.

For its part, Hamas has so far rejected cease-fire efforts unless its demands are met, including a lifting of a punishing blockade.

The military said that since fighting began July 8, Israeli forces have hit 4,100 targets in Gaza, about one-third connected to the militants' ability to launch rockets at Israel.

An army statement said that since Tuesday morning, troops have demolished three more tunnels leading from Gaza to Israel. Hamas has used such tunnels to sneak into Israel to carry out attacks.

The army said 32 tunnels have so far been located but did not say how many remain.

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Enav reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writer Ibrahim Barzak in Gaza City contributed to this report.

NEW YORK (AP) — More travelers are flying than ever before, creating a daunting challenge for airlines: keep passengers safe in an ever more crowded airspace.

Each day, 8.3 million people around the globe — roughly the population of New York City — step aboard an airplane. They almost always land safely.

Some flights, however, are safer than others.

The accident rate in Africa, for instance, is nearly five times that of the worldwide average, according to the International Civil Aviation Organization, part of the United Nations. Such trouble spots also happen to be where air travel is growing the fastest, putting the number of fliers on course to double within the next 15 years.

"In some areas of the world, there's going to be a learning curve," says Patrick Smith, a commercial airline pilot for 24 years and author of "Cockpit Confidential." But that doesn't necessarily mean that the skies are going to become more dangerous. "We've already doubled the volume of airplanes and passengers and what's happened is we've gotten safer."

To meet the influx of passengers, airlines will need to hire and train enough qualified pilots and mechanics. Governments will have to develop and enforce safety regulations. New runways with proper navigation aids will have to be constructed.

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FILE - In this July 17, 2014, file photo, people walk amongst the debris, at the crash site of a pas …

Industry experts acknowledge the difficulties, but note that aviation has gone through major growth spurts before and still managed to improve safety along the way.

Last year, 3.1 billion passengers flew, twice the total in 1999. Yet, the chances of dying in a plane crash were much lower.

Since 2000, there were fewer than three fatalities per 10 million passengers, according to an Associated Press analysis of crash data provided by aviation consultancy Ascend. In the 1990s, there were nearly eight; during the 1980s there were 11; and the 1970s had 26 deaths per 10 million passengers.

The last two weeks have been bad for aviation with the shooting down of a Malaysia Airlines flight followed by separate crashes in Taiwan and Mali. But the rare trio of tragedies represents just a fraction of the 93,500 daily airline flights worldwide.

"Aviation safety is continuing to get better. A sudden spate of accidents doesn't mean that the industry has suddenly become less safe," says Paul Hayes, director of air safety for Ascend.

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FILE - In this Nov. 21, 2012, file photo, Amy Sorgent waits with her five-month-old son Miles in a l …

As global incomes rise, people in Southeast Asia, Africa, Latin America, India and China want to travel more. Airplane manufacturer Airbus says that while U.S. traffic is growing 2.4 percent a year, emerging countries are seeing 13.2 percent annual growth.

In those countries, flying is often the only option. Cities are remote. Adequate highways or railroads don't always exist. New airlines have popped up, offering affordable flights to satisfy this growing thirst for travel.

These carriers — many unheard of outside their region — are adding new jets at a breakneck pace. In the next six years alone, Indonesia's Lion Air will get 265 new planes and India's IndiGo will receive 125, according to Bank of America.

"If an airline rapidly expands," Hayes says, the challenge of adding new staff and getting them to work together properly "can increase risk."

Plane manufacturer Boeing estimates that within 20 years, the industry will need 498,000 new commercial airline pilots and 556,000 new maintenance technicians. Finding enough skilled workers to meet that demand isn't going to be easy.

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FILE - In this July 24, 2014 file photo, emergency workers remove the wreckage of crashed TransAsia …

Sherry Carbary, vice president of Boeing Flight Services, says there is an "urgent demand for competent aviation personnel."

"This is a global issue, requiring industry-wide collaboration and innovative solutions," she says.

Lee Moak, president of the Air Line Pilots Association, the largest U.S. pilots' union, adds that strong oversight by governments and trade groups is needed to ensure proper training.

"If you don't have a safe operation, then you're not going to have customers," Moak says.

Countries must also invest in the right infrastructure. There needs to be proper radar coverage, runway landing lights and beacons and skilled airport fire and rescue teams, says Todd Curtis, director of the Airsafe.com Foundation. Developing regions, he adds, also currently don't have enough airports that planes can divert to in case of an emergency.

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FILE- In this April 25, 2012, file photo, an airplane lands at Newark Liberty International Airport …

And when there is a crash with survivors, having hospitals nearby with advanced trauma centers helps to lower the number of fatalities. Nearly a third of all accidents since 1959 where the plane was destroyed still didn't have any deaths, according to Boeing.

Technological improvements are also helping to lower the accident rate. Cockpits now come with systems that automatically warn if a jet is too low, about to hit a mountain or collide with another plane. Others detect sudden wind gusts that could make a landing unsafe.

The next generation of technology promises to help prevent even more accidents. Honeywell Aerospace launched a new system 18 months ago that gives pilots better awareness about severe turbulence, hail and lightning. The company is also developing a system to improve pilots' vision in stormy weather: an infrared camera will let them see runways through thick clouds earlier than the naked eye would.

"At the end of the day, we're a safety net. We're there to help the flight crew," says Ratan Khatwa, senior chief engineer for human factors at Honeywell.

The catch: While these advances would help a generation of new pilots fly more safely, not all airlines are willing to pay for the upgrades.

"The industry is very opposed, for cost reasons, to retrofits," says James E. Hall, former chairman of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board. "You have a situation of the haves and the have-nots."

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Scott Mayerowitz can be reached at http://twitter.com/GlobeTrotScott.