TASHKENT, May 22  -- An executive organ of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) issued a statement Thursday strongly condemning the terrorist attack on a market in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region earlier in the day.

The Tashkent-based Executive Committee of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure of the SCO denounced the terrorist attack targeting innocent civilians, and expressed profound sympathy and condolences to the victims of the attack and their families.

The statement said the committee will play its due role and promote its members' pragmatic cooperation in combating terrorism, separatism and extremism to safeguard regional peace.

On Thursday morning, two vehicles without license plates broke through roadside fences and plowed into people at an open street market in Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang, and set off explosives, leaving at least 31 dead and 94 others injured.