Pakistan's president has vowed on a visit to China's restive Xinjiang region to work more closely with Beijing to combat terrorism, the state Xinhua news agency reported Wednesday.

Asif Ali Zardari made the remarks during his first visit to China since Xinjiang's government said that "terrorists" trained in neighbouring Pakistan were behind a deadly attack in the region last month.

Xinjiang has seen several outbreaks of ethnic violence in recent years as the mainly Muslim Uighur minority bridles under what it regards as oppression by the government and the unwanted immigration of ethnic Han Chinese.

Xinhua said Zardari pledged cooperation on the matter in a meeting with Xinjiang Communist Party chief Zhang Chunxian on Tuesday.

"Zardari stated that Pakistan opposes any terrorist activities and will work more closely with China in combating terrorism," it said, without giving any direct quotes from the Pakistani leader.

A spokesman for Zardari, who is attending a trade fair in Xinjiang's regional capital Urumqi, could not immediately be reached by telephone.

Zardari's visit to China comes after two violent attacks in the ancient Silk Road city of Kashgar at the end of July left 21 people dead, including eight suspects allegedly involved in the incidents.

A local government statement blamed one of the attacks on "terrorists" trained in Pakistani camps, but some experts say the government has produced little evidence of an organised terrorist threat and the violence stems more from long-standing local resentment.

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