HONG
KONG — A group of assailants wielding knives stormed into a railway
station in southwestern China on Saturday, slashing employees and
commuters and leaving at least 29 people dead and 130 wounded, according
to Xinhua, the official Chinese news agency. The local government
indicated that the attackers were Uighur separatists seeking an
independent homeland in the Xinjiang region in China’s far west.
The
attack, in Yunnan Province, was far from Xinjiang, and if carried out
by members of the largely Muslim Uighur minority could imply that the
volatile tensions between them and the government might be spilling
beyond that restive region.
The
violence erupted about 9 p.m. in the city of Kunming, when the
assailants, all wearing similar clothing, entered the square in front of
the station as well as a ticket sales hall, according to the official
Yunnan news service.
“According
to eyewitnesses, the group of males held knives and all wore the same
black clothing,” said the China News Service, another state-run news
agency. “They slashed at whoever they saw, and at the scene there were
many people injured.” Photographs circulated by Chinese news websites,
which they said were taken after the attack, showed men and women
sprawled and bleeding.
If
the Kunming government’s account is correct, the attack would be the
worst violence outside of Xinjiang to stem from discontent by Uighurs
over what they call repression by the country’s Han Chinese majority.
The central government in Beijing said Uighur separatists were behind a small but dramatic attack
in October near Tiananmen Square, when a vehicle plowed into a crowd,
killing two tourists and injuring dozens. Three people in the vehicle
also died.
The
latest attack appears certain to prompt the authorities to increase the
already heavy security across Xinjiang, which could deepen the divide
between Uighurs and Han Chinese there that has been fueling violence in
the region. News reports on Saturday did not identify the attackers, but
on Sunday the Kunming government said that there was evidence at the
scene “showing that this was an act of violent terror planned and
organized by Xinjiang separatists,” according to Xinhua. Although the
government’s statement did not say the attackers were Uighurs, it
contained language often used to refer to members of the minority group.
Many
Uighurs resent the government’s controls on their religious life and
say the growing presence of Han Chinese people in Xinjiang has deprived
them of jobs, land and opportunities. The authorities have consistently
blamed violence there on extremist groups inspired and organized from
abroad. Advocates of Uighur self-determination have said the Chinese
government’s own repressive policies have seeded the violence.
After
the slashing attack, President Xi Jinping of China said the government
would “sternly punish the terrorists according to the law and resolutely
put down their arrogant audacity.”
The
Ministry of Public Security issued a statement vowing that there would
be no mercy for the assailants. “No matter what the motive of the
perpetrators, to spill innocent blood is to become an enemy of all
decency under heaven,” the statement said.
According
to an article in The Beijing News, a student who witnessed the attack,
Wang Dinggeng, said the assailants included women. They pulled long
knives from underneath their garments and began slashing at people.
“Inside
the hall,” Mr. Wang said, “there were still many people lined up to buy
tickets, and the people outside came pouring in saying, ‘Murder!’ ”
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