**The Communist Party chief of the troubled Chinese far-western city of Urumqi has been sacked, the official Chinese Xinhua news agency says.**No official reason was given for the dismissal of Li Zhi.
It follows days of unrest in Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang region, in which at least five people have been killed.
The protests came after a spate of stabbings with syringes blamed on Uighur Muslim separatists. Unrest in Urumqi in July left nearly 200 dead.
Li Zhi is to be replaced by Zhu Hailun, the head of Xinjiang region’s law-and-order committee, reports say.
Urumqi has seen a high-level security presence on its streets this week, after thousands of majority Han Chinese demonstrated over the alleged hypodermic syringe stabbings .