URUMQI - Police in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region on Sunday captured the rioter that had been on the run after a terrorist attack which killed 24 people on Wednesday.

The man captured is Yiblayan Eli, a member of the 17-member gang behind the attack in Lukqun Township in Shanshan county in the region's Turpan Prefecture, said a Xinjiang police statement.

The gang, formed by religious extremists and led by Ahmatniyaz Sidiq, had raised funds, purchased knives and gasoline and researched the sites since mid-June to prepare for the attack, the statement said.

Fearing their plot might be revealed after one gangster was arrested on Tuesday, 16 rioters on Wednesday morning attacked the township's police stations, a local government building, a construction site, a private store and a hair salon, as well as set fire to police cars.

A total of 24 people, including two police officers, were killed by the knife-wielding rioters. Among the victims, 16 were from the Uygur ethnic group. Twenty-one police officers and civilians were also injured in the attack.

The police shot and killed 11 rioters and captured another four who were injured at the scene, while one managed to escape.