SHANGHAI - A BRAWL at a toy factory in China ended with two dead and 60 in hospital after a dispute flared between Han Chinese and Uighur workers from the Muslim Xinjiang region, media reported on Sunday.

More than 400 police were called to break up the fight involving hundreds of people at the factory in Shaoguan, in the southern province of Guangdong, early Friday, the official Xinhua news agency reported, citing local authorities.

A total of 118 people were injured in the fight, Xinhua reported, adding 60 were still being treated in hospital on Sunday.

It was not clear what triggered the dispute but the two dead were both members of China's Uighur minority, the South China Morning Post reported, adding 81 of the injured were also said to be Uighurs.

Guangdong's communist party chief, Mr Wang Yang, met relatives of the dead to offer his condolences and promise that the provincial government would hunt down and prosecute the killers, the newspaper said.

Mr Wang said the incident should not affect Beijing's policy of encouraging firms to hire minorities from the western region to help reduce the income gap between the western region and other parts of China.

'We should not allow such an occasional case to affect economic co-operation between east and west zones or our national unity,' Wang was quoted as saying.

Hong Kong tycoon Francis Choi, who owns the factory through the holding company Early Light International, agreed to reassign Uighur workers to other factories to prevent future disputes, the newspaper said.

The factory recruited 800 migrant workers from Shufu county in Xinjiang in May and June, Xinhua reported.

Xinjiang is home to about eight million Uighurs, a Turkic ethnic group, and many members of the mainly Muslim community say they have suffered under Chinese political and religious persecution for decades.

China has long said it faces a deadly threat from Muslim separatists as justification for extremely tight controls in Xinjiang. -- AFP