Beijing police, in a statement on their official microblog, said they had issued a "yellow" security alert for Christmas and New Year, the second lowest level, focused on areas like malls, which are likely to see more people visiting during the festivities.The government blamed that incident on Islamist militants from China's unruly far western region of Xinjiang, where hundreds have died in unrest in recent years. None of them elaborated.Beijing is generally safe and criminals rarely target foreigners, although the fashionable Sanlitun bar and restaurant area occasionally sees fights. Regular police tend not to carry guns in China, and gun crime is in any case uncommon.The city overall has been christmas lights for sale on much higher alert, with patrols by armed police in popular shopping and tourism sites, since a fatal car crash in 2013 at the top edge of Tiananmen Square in which five people died."Beijing police are planning ahead and taking many measures to ensure good public order," it said.Police had issued a 'yellow' security alert for Christmas and New Year.While the violence has generally been limited to Xinjiang, last year at least 31 died in a knife attack at a station in China's southwestern city of Kunming, also blamed on militants from Xinjiang.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said he was aware of the reports and that the government paid great attention to foreigners' safety.. In August, a lone attacker stabbed a French man and a Chinese woman there. The woman died.A Reuters photographer saw police commandos with guns in front of Sanlitun's main mall.The French Embassy, Britain's Foreign Office and Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs issued similar warnings. Beijing: At least four Western countries took the unusual step on Thursday of issuing Christmas security warnings for Westerners in a popular Beijing diplomatic and entertainment district as police stepped up patrols.The US Embassy said in a brief statement it had "received information of possible threats" against Westerners in Sanlitun, also home to many embassies, on or around Christmas Day, December 25.Christmas is not a holiday in officially atheist China, but more and more young people celebrate it as they view it as a sophisticated Western custom and excuse to give gifts.