BEIJING, July 8 (RIA Novosti) - Chinese authorities have lifted a curfew in the capital of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region after order was restored following deadly riots, a spokesman for the local administration said.

"The curfew was lifted in the morning and now the situation has normalized," the spokesman told RIA Novosti.

Chinese President Hu Jintao was earlier forced to cut short his state visit to Italy, where he was due to attend a G8 summit, "because of domestic affairs and the situation in Xinjiang," ANSA reported.

The riots started in Urumqi, Xinjiang's capital, on Sunday when a group of protesters demanded an investigation into the death of two ethnic Uighurs who died during a fight with Han Chinese workers at a toy factory in late June.

Chinese authorities say 156 people died in the subsequent fighting and around 1,500 people were arrested.

However, Uighur groups put the death toll as high as 840. They also say that the majority of the dead were Uighurs.

Chinese authorities accused the World Uighur Congress of fomenting the riots, saying its head, Rebiya Kadeer, was orchestrating the unrest from exile in the United States.