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| China Calls Stabbing Rampage at Rail Station a Terrorist Act | China Calls Stabbing Rampage at Rail Station a Terrorist Act |
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| KUNMING, China — The group of about 10 attackers, dressed in black and wearing cloth masks, arrived in front of Kunming Railway Station in southwest China on Saturday night and began slashing at employees and commuters, sometimes repeatedly plunging their long knives and daggers into people too stunned or slow to flee. | |
| By the time the police shot dead four assailants and ended the slaughter, the square and ticket sales hall at the station were strewn with bodies and moaning survivors in pools of blood. According to the state news media, 29 people were killed and 143 wounded. The police captured one of the assailants but several others were said to be still at large. Witnesses said that at least one of the attackers was a woman. | By the time the police shot dead four assailants and ended the slaughter, the square and ticket sales hall at the station were strewn with bodies and moaning survivors in pools of blood. According to the state news media, 29 people were killed and 143 wounded. The police captured one of the assailants but several others were said to be still at large. Witnesses said that at least one of the attackers was a woman. |
| The attack, which the authorities said was carried out by assailants from the Xinjiang region in China’s far west, was an alarming rebuff to the government’s vows to bring stability to the ethnically divided region that has been convulsed by mounting violence. | The attack, which the authorities said was carried out by assailants from the Xinjiang region in China’s far west, was an alarming rebuff to the government’s vows to bring stability to the ethnically divided region that has been convulsed by mounting violence. |
| Although no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, officials on Sunday described the killings as an act of terrorism planned and perpetrated by separatists from Xinjiang, where members of the Uighur minority are increasingly at odds with the government. According to the official Xinhua news service, President Xi Jinping deplored the attack and called for “an all-out effort to punish the terrorists.” | |
| Residents in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province, said they were stunned that the city, best known as a warm, leafy tourist destination, could suffer such a spasm of bloodshed. | |
| “It happened too suddenly,” Du Zhenwu, a 48-year-old resident who lives near the train station, said in a telephone interview. “I don’t think anybody saw it coming.” | “It happened too suddenly,” Du Zhenwu, a 48-year-old resident who lives near the train station, said in a telephone interview. “I don’t think anybody saw it coming.” |
| The widespread revulsion and fear unleashed by the attack are likely to intensify the government’s crackdown in the region, which has led to a series of bloody clashes in recent months that have claimed more than 100 lives, nearly all of them ethnic Uighurs. | The widespread revulsion and fear unleashed by the attack are likely to intensify the government’s crackdown in the region, which has led to a series of bloody clashes in recent months that have claimed more than 100 lives, nearly all of them ethnic Uighurs. |
| The killings have alarmed human rights advocates and Uighur exiles who say security forces have been using excessive force, sometimes against unarmed protesters. | The killings have alarmed human rights advocates and Uighur exiles who say security forces have been using excessive force, sometimes against unarmed protesters. |
| The rampage in Kunming transfixed the nation, with television broadcasts, websites and newspapers offering gruesome pictures and harrowing descriptions of the mayhem. On Sunday, China’s Communist Party leadership vowed to take tougher measures against the perpetrators of such violence. “This gang of terrorists were cruel without any humanity,” Meng Jianzhu, the party leader who oversees domestic policing and security, told Phoenix Television, a Hong Kong-based broadcaster. “They completely abandoned their conscience. We must strike hard against them according to the law.” | |
| But experts said that if the official accounts were correct, the attack appeared to expose a serious security lapse and raises a troublesome question for President Xi: Why have the government’s increasingly tough policies so far failed to stanch the violence in Xinjiang, which has now spilled over into a distant province with no recent history of major ethnic unrest? | But experts said that if the official accounts were correct, the attack appeared to expose a serious security lapse and raises a troublesome question for President Xi: Why have the government’s increasingly tough policies so far failed to stanch the violence in Xinjiang, which has now spilled over into a distant province with no recent history of major ethnic unrest? |
| “As a single incident, you can say that this is the most brutal, cruel incident we’ve seen from Xinjiang,” Rohan Gunaratna, a professor at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore who studies terrorism in Asia, including China, said in a telephone interview. Over several days in July 2009, at least 200 people, many from the Han majority, died in ethnic bloodshed in Urumqi, the regional capital of Xinjiang. In the days that followed the rioting, an unknown number of Uighurs are said to have died in vigilante attacks. | |
| “Absolutely, it’s an intelligence failure,” Professor Gunaratna said of the Kunming attack. “But this is a natural progression of the developments in Xinjiang, because I would estimate that in the last 12 months there have been over 200 attacks there, maybe even more. It is getting worse.” | “Absolutely, it’s an intelligence failure,” Professor Gunaratna said of the Kunming attack. “But this is a natural progression of the developments in Xinjiang, because I would estimate that in the last 12 months there have been over 200 attacks there, maybe even more. It is getting worse.” |
| The Uighurs are a Turkic people who mostly follow moderate traditions of Sunni Islam, and culturally have more in common with similar people across Central Asian countries than with Han Chinese. In Xinjiang, Uighurs make up a little under half of the 22 million civilian inhabitants, and Han Chinese, who have been encouraged to migrate there, now account for 40 percent, according to government data. | The Uighurs are a Turkic people who mostly follow moderate traditions of Sunni Islam, and culturally have more in common with similar people across Central Asian countries than with Han Chinese. In Xinjiang, Uighurs make up a little under half of the 22 million civilian inhabitants, and Han Chinese, who have been encouraged to migrate there, now account for 40 percent, according to government data. |
| The attack is particularly alarming because it happened far from Xinjiang and, like a smaller attack in Beijing in October, could augur more attempts by alienated Uighurs to strike beyond their home region, said Pan Zhiping, a professor at Xinjiang University who studies unrest in the region. In October, a group of Uighurs drove a vehicle into a crowd near Tiananmen Square, in Beijing, killing two people and injuring 40. | The attack is particularly alarming because it happened far from Xinjiang and, like a smaller attack in Beijing in October, could augur more attempts by alienated Uighurs to strike beyond their home region, said Pan Zhiping, a professor at Xinjiang University who studies unrest in the region. In October, a group of Uighurs drove a vehicle into a crowd near Tiananmen Square, in Beijing, killing two people and injuring 40. |
| “The Tiananmen attack last year could be called a turning point, and together with this incident indicates that more terror activities could spread beyond Xinjiang, like violence spread out of Chechnya in Russia,” Professor Pan said. | “The Tiananmen attack last year could be called a turning point, and together with this incident indicates that more terror activities could spread beyond Xinjiang, like violence spread out of Chechnya in Russia,” Professor Pan said. |
| “There were intelligence problems here,” he added. “You can’t stamp out these incidents before they happen unless you have reliable informers.” | “There were intelligence problems here,” he added. “You can’t stamp out these incidents before they happen unless you have reliable informers.” |
| But activists seeking greater Uighur autonomy and international human rights groups have argued that China’s smothering controls and religious restrictions in the region are exacerbating, not defusing, the tensions underlying the violence. | |
| Dilxat Rexit, a spokesman based in Sweden for the World Uyghur Congress, which campaigns for self-determination for Uighurs, said the attack in Beijing last year had prompted even more sweeping searches and detentions of Uighurs, including in Kunming, which has a population of traders and peddlers from Xinjiang. | |
| “We oppose any form of violence, and we also urge the Chinese government to ease systematic repression,” Mr. Rexit said. “If this incident was really the work of Uighurs, then I can only say that it may be an extreme act by people who feel they cannot take it anymore.” | “We oppose any form of violence, and we also urge the Chinese government to ease systematic repression,” Mr. Rexit said. “If this incident was really the work of Uighurs, then I can only say that it may be an extreme act by people who feel they cannot take it anymore.” |
| Throughout Sunday hundreds of people lined up at blood donation centers across the city, and tales of tragedy and heroism were shared online. At one tiny restaurant to the west of the railway station, the owner reportedly shepherded 200 people to safety during the attack, according to China News Service. There were so many people inside, the report said, that people were standing on tables. | Throughout Sunday hundreds of people lined up at blood donation centers across the city, and tales of tragedy and heroism were shared online. At one tiny restaurant to the west of the railway station, the owner reportedly shepherded 200 people to safety during the attack, according to China News Service. There were so many people inside, the report said, that people were standing on tables. |
| As night fell, hundreds of people flocked to the station to light candles and lay out white chrysanthemums, a traditional symbol of mourning in China. “I just can’t imagine who would want to kill innocent people in such a cruel fashion,” said Yang Wei, a 50-year-old truck driver. | As night fell, hundreds of people flocked to the station to light candles and lay out white chrysanthemums, a traditional symbol of mourning in China. “I just can’t imagine who would want to kill innocent people in such a cruel fashion,” said Yang Wei, a 50-year-old truck driver. |
| As he spoke, a group of railway workers gathered up the belongings of victims. Among the items were colorful backpacks, the overstuffed plastic bags typically carried by migrant workers, and a child’s bicycle with training wheels. | As he spoke, a group of railway workers gathered up the belongings of victims. Among the items were colorful backpacks, the overstuffed plastic bags typically carried by migrant workers, and a child’s bicycle with training wheels. |
| Andrew Jacobs reported from Kunming, and Chris Buckley from Hong Kong. Ye Fanfei contributed research from Kunming, and Chen Jiehao from Beijing. |