Xinjiang separatists kill 29 in China rail attack

[dexlimp]

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Knife-wielding attackers killed 29 people and wounded more than 130 in an unprecedented assault at a Chinese train station, state media reported Sunday, blaming separatists from Xinjiang.

Victims described attackers dressed in black bursting into Kunming station in the southwestern province of Yunnan and slashing indiscriminately as people queued to buy tickets late Saturday, prompting shock and outrage.

Police shot dead at least four attackers, had arrested one and were hunting for more, said the official Xinhua news agency, which in a commentary called the incident "China's 9/11" and a "severe crime against the humanity".

China's security chief Meng Jianzhu, who rushed to Kunming to oversee the operation, promised "all-out efforts" to "severely punish terrorists according to the law", Xinhua said.

He "urged forcible measures to crack down on violent terrorism activities", it added.

The Kunming city government said the attack was orchestrated by separatists from the northwest region of Xinjiang, a vast and distant area home to the mostly-Muslim Uighur minority, Xinhua reported.

Xinjiang is periodically hit by violent clashes between locals and security forces but attacks targeting civilians are rarer. They are almost unheard of in Yunnan, more than 1,600 kilometres (1,000 miles) from Xinjiang and a popular tourist destination.

The attack comes months after three members of the same Xinjiang family crashed their car into crowds of tourists in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, the symbolic heart of the Chinese state, killing two people. They then set the vehicle on fire, killing themselves, according to authorities.

It also came days before delegates from across the Communist-ruled country gather in Beijing for the annual meeting of the National People's Congress, the rubberstamp parliament.

Major Chinese train stations have security and identity checkpoints on entry. Barry Sautman, an expert on ethnic politics in China at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, said the attack had "high symbolic value".

- 'Stabbing whoever they saw' -

Victim Yang Haifei, who was wounded in the chest and back, told Xinhua he had been buying a train ticket when the attackers approached.

"I saw a person come straight at me with a long knife and I ran away with everyone," he said, while others "simply fell on the ground".

Some who escaped were desperately searching for missing loved ones.

"I can't find my husband, and his phone went unanswered," Yang Ziqing was quoted as saying.

She had been waiting for her train to Shanghai when a knife-wielding man suddenly came at them, she said.


Officers sealed off a wide area around the station, reports said, while police were questioning people at the site.

The attackers were dressed in similar black clothing, the semi-official China News Service said, citing witnesses.

"A group of men carrying weapons burst into the train station plaza and the ticket hall, stabbing whoever they saw," it said.

Photos posted on Sina Weibo -- a Chinese version of Twitter -- showed blood spattered across the station floor and medical staff crouching over bodies lying on the ground, although the images' authenticity could not be verified.

Pictures on news portal 163.com also showed what it claimed was one of the attackers, lying on a stretcher surrounded by police.

Other online images showed spectacles, shoes and baggage strewn across the floor of the waiting room, behind police tape.

None of the victims were foreigners, Xinhua quoted officials as saying.

President Xi Jinping called for "all-out efforts" in the investigation and for the attackers to be punished "in accordance with the law", the agency said.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned "in the strongest terms" the "terrible attack on civilians", his spokesman said in a statement, adding he "hopes that those responsible will be brought to justice".

- 'They will go to hell' -

Many Weibo users expressed outrage. "Targeting ordinary people in a terrorist attack is disgraceful," said one. "They have nothing to do with this issue."

Li Chengpeng, a social commentator and government critic who has more than seven million followers, said: "No matter who did this, for what purpose, and no matter which race, to target innocent people at a train station is an evil choice. Their hearts will be punished and they will go to hell."

Xinhua said in a commentary that the attack had shrouded "the whole nation in terror".

"Mothers, sons and daughters were slaughtered by strangers," it said. "Nothing justifies such a carnage against innocent civilians. A nationwide outrage has been stirred."

Incidents involving Uighurs are often labelled "terrorist attacks" by Chinese authorities, although the term is rarely used for incidents involving members of the Han ethnic majority with grievances against the state.

Beijing maintains that unrest in Xinjiang is caused by terrorist groups seeking independence, including the overseas-based East Turkestan Islamic Movement.

But its strength and links to global terrorism are murky, and some experts say China exaggerates its threat to justify tough security measures in Xinjiang, where rights groups complain of widespread religious repression and economic discrimination.

In an emailed statement, Dilshat Raxit of the exiled World Uyghur Congress said there was "no justification for attacks on civilians" but added that discriminatory and repressive policies provoked "extreme measures" in response.

Xinjiang separatists kill 29 in China rail attack

[kit_cebu]

why is this news here?

[SioDenz]

why is this news here?

Ka istrikto sad nimu Joke..

[æRLO]

Uighurs are to the Chinese are Chechnyans are to the Russians. kaso lang, China is just so efficient at suppressing these kinds of separatists, you rarely hear a peep out of them.

[Scott Bernard]

Destroy them from within...

[Renz8]

And the Chinese Revolution begins LoL

[rayven716]

Though killing civilians is inexcusable, hope China has more internal dissent so it will focus more on its internal problem rather than bullying Philippines and Vietnam.

- - - Updated - - -

Though killing civilians is inexcusable, hope China has more internal dissent so it will focus more on its internal problem rather than bullying Philippines and Vietnam.

[dexlimp]

why is this news here?

ah d diay ni pwde dri sir? sama ani?
https://www.istorya.net/forums/politi...-ex-guard.html
https://www.istorya.net/forums/politi...-cold-war.html
https://www.istorya.net/forums/politi...-facebook.html


maghimo na lng ta forum sir na Politics and Current Events in the Philippines or Politics and Current Events in Cebu..

[<SMILE>]

Quite a desperate move, very irresponsible,gory, and ineffective.
But the Tiananmen square protest before did made it's mark making the whole world understand and wary.

[loRd_ubbEr653]

great analogy aerlo... china needs to get to the bottom of this right away or else there'll be more attacks like this in the future