The 2011 Kashgar attacks were a series of knife and bomb attacks in Kashgar, Xinjiang, China on July 30 and 31, 2011. On July 30, two Uyghur men hijacked a truck, killed its driver, and drove into a crowd of pedestrians. They got out of the truck and stabbed six people to death and injured 27 others. One of the attackers was killed by the crowd; the other was brought into custody. On July 31, a chain of two explosions started a fire at a downtown restaurant. A group of armed Uyghur men killed two people inside of the restaurant and four people outside, injuring 15 other people. Police shot five suspects dead, detained four, and killed two others who initially escaped arrest.

The government says the attackers confessed to jihadist motives and membership in the terrorist group East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), while an overseas pro-Uyghur independence group claims the attackers were frustrated by a lack of options for nonviolent anti-government protest. Businesses temporarily closed down and riot police patrolled the city until August 4. ETIM acknowledged responsibility for the attack on September 8, as well as for the attack in Hotan earlier that same July. Six men were given prison or death sentences for their involvement in both attacks later in September.

Kashgar is "one of the most volatile cities in China", near to the border with Afghanistan and Pakistan, and contains many cultural icons for the Chinese Muslim Uyghur minority. The proximity of the jihadist activity in Afghanistan and Pakistan serve as an inspiration for Uyghur extremists. Han people form about 20% of the population and live apart from the local Uyghurs. Anthropologist Dru Gladney said that in Kashgar, "any small incident quickly overheats and boils into something much larger". From 2003 to 2006, a Xinjiang-wide "crackdown on extremism" reduced the incidence of terrorist attacks, but alienated many Uyghurs and aided extremist recruitment. In the run-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics in August, two Uyghur men killed 16 people in Kashgar with a combination truck collision and stabbing.

Because Kashgar lies in a seismic zone, the city is undergoing a $1.1 billion urban renewal plan to replace mudbrick structures with new foundations that meet modern standards of earthquake safety and sanitation. Some Uyghurs oppose the renovations, citing the cultural value of the old buildings. Outside investment has fueled the town's economic growth of 20% since the city was designated a Special Economic Zone in 2010. However, many Uyghurs, including the suspects in the 2011 Kashgar attacks, do not have even a primary education, and still more are not proficient in Standard Chinese. As a result, unemployment is high and salaries are low even among Uyghurs with university degrees is unfounded.

The designated terror group known as the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), is a UK-based Pan-Islamic group operating in Xinjiang with similar ideals to Al-Qaeda, but with less technological capability. Since explosives are tightly controlled in Xinjiang and in the border regions, the ETIM has resorted to knife, pin prick, and vehicular attacks against civilians and security forces to achieve its goals. Chinese HUMINT in Xinjiang is stunted by the Uyghurs' unwillingness to cooperate with police, so state security forces find difficulty in anticipating and planning for terrorist attacks. The 2011 attacks in Kashgar came on the eve of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan and one month after Kashgar opened a railway to Hotan, a city that had been the site of violence on July 18.

At 10:30 pm on July 30, two car bombs exploded prematurely: one in a parked minivan, another on a street lined with restaurants. Three bystanders immediately died from the blasts, as well as the driver of the minivan; two suspects fled the scene. Injured people were carried out of restaurants on stretchers and police cordoned off the area. Five miles from the site of the explosions at 11:45 pm, two armed Uyghur men hijacked a blue truck waiting at a traffic light by stabbing its driver to death. According to the Hong Kong-based Ming Pao, the two hijackers were the same suspects who fled the earlier explosion. With control of the truck, they drove into a crowded sidewalk lined with food stalls, jumped out, and started stabbing pedestrians. Eventually the crowd overpowered the attackers, beating one of them to death before police detained the other. 27 people emerged alive with injuries, while eight victims died. A tourist operator in Kashgar told The Hindu that the police closed off several areas of the city, although residents said that the atmosphere in the city immediately afterwards was calm.

At 4:30 pm on the following day, a group of 12 Uyghur men armed with guns and knives threw explosives into busy Kashgar dapanji restaurant, causing a fire. The targeted restaurant was located at the end of Gourmet Food Street, a crowded street lined with restaurants and shops that are popular with Han people. As restaurantgoers tried to flee into the street, the assailants hacked at them with knives, leaving "pool[s] of blood" and overturned tables in their wake. The restaurant owner, a waiter and four patrons were killed; 12 other Han people suffered injuries. Firefighters arrived to put out the fire and police engaged in a firefight with the armed men, shooting five but sustaining three injuries of their own. Four of the shot suspects died immediately, and another died in hospital. Another four suspects were taken into custody. Memtieli Tiliwaldi (买买提艾力·铁力瓦尔地) and Turson Hasan (吐逊·艾山), two Uyghur men who had warrants for their arrest issued, were fatally shot by police one day later in a corn field on the outskirts of Kashgar.

State media confirmed that all the suspected attackers were Uyghur, and an investigation from the Kashgar government concluded that the attacks on both days were related and that the perpetrators were recruited in Pakistan and gained explosives and firearms training at ETIM bases in Pakistan along with Taliban and al-Qaeda groups. The suspects, some of whom openly confessed to an ETIM connection, were reportedly influenced by jihadist ideology. Terrorism expert Rohan Gunaratna said that the violence could either be "conducted or influenced by the East Turkestan Islamic Movement", although he said the movement had been weakened by Pakistani counter-terror operations from 2003, which included ETIM leaders like Hasan Mahsum and Abdul Haq al-Turkistani being killed.