Chinese local authorities have dismissed a claim that some 10,000 people disappeared following the July 5 violence in China's northwestern Xinjiang region.

Xinjiang government spokeswoman Hou Hanmin on Thursday dismissed the claim as 'groundless', saying it was 'not even worth a counter reaction'.

"If there were more than 10,000 missing, how many more of them would have taken part in the riot?" she asked.

The denial comes a day after exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer, who lives in exile in Washington, said nearly 10,000 people 'disappeared in one night' after violent clashes in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang.

"Uighur people who were there must have been either killed or taken away," Kadeer told a press conference in Tokyo on Wednesday.

The Chinese government accused Kadeer -- head of the US-based World Uighur Congress -- of masterminding the July 5 unrest which left 197 people dead in clashes between majority Han Chinese and Uighur protestors.

China has said police had to resort to force to prevent further bloodshed and that more than 1,400 people were detained for their involvement in the unrest.

MRS/AKM