BEIJING ? Authorities in China's Xinjiang have restored access to email services and 32 Internet sites that were blocked after ethnic unrest broke out in the region in July, state media reported Sunday.

Restrictions on the number of text messages a mobile user could send have also been lifted, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

Authorities in the Xinjiang will restore communication services "step by step," Xinhua said, citing a spokesperson for the local government.

Internet and email services were cut following the outbreak of clashes between ethnic Han Chinese and mainly Muslim Uighurs, in which almost 200 people died and 1,600 were wounded.

The authorities accused Uighur organisers of using the Internet and mobile phones to orchestrate the unrest.

Twenty-six people were sentenced to death for their part in the rioting, which lasted several days after breaking out in Urumqi, Xinjiang's capital. Some have already been executed.