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2014 Kunming attack
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2014 Kunming attack
On 1 March 2014, a group of five knife-wielding terrorists attacked passengers in the Kunming Railway Station in Kunming, Yunnan, China, killing 31 people, and wounding 143 others. The attackers pulled out long-bladed knives and stabbed and slashed passengers at random. Four assailants were shot to death by police on the spot and one injured perpetrator was arrested. Police announced on 3 March that the six-man, two-woman group had been neutralized, after the arrest of three remaining suspects.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack and no ties to any organization have been identified; in effect the group was a singular terror cell. Xinhua News Agency and the government of Kunming said that the attack had been linked to Sunni extremists which were a faction of Xinjiang separatists. Police said that they had confiscated a black, hand-painted East Turkestan flag at the scene, which is associated with the Uyghur separatists from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
At 21:12 on 1 March 2014, a group of five individuals, all dressed in black clothes and armed with knives and cleavers, rushed into a waiting area of Kunming railway station, attacking people indiscriminately. From their starting point, the group moved separately through the station square, the second ticket area, the ticket main hall, and the small baggage storage area. Witnesses described two of the attackers, who lingered at the ticket counters as a man and a woman, both around 30 years old and 170 cm in height, the former slightly overweight with medium hair and the latter wearing a headscarf.
Several people hid in various businesses at the station, which were protected by roller shutters. A post office with five security guards first sheltered 40 people, with the number growing to nearly a hundred by the time the attack was resolved. Chen Fang stated that nearly 200 people were hiding inside her 80 m2 (860 sq ft) restaurant for an hour, with many having to stand on tables, chairs, and the kitchen's stoves. Several dozen people shared a hiding spot in the restroom.
Xie Lin, a captain of the Kunming Railway Police Station, overheard the commotion from the initial attack and called in an apparent group fight after seeing several injured on the floor. While Xie guided passengers and staff members out, deputy station director Zhang Liyuan arrived in the waiting area, where he confronted one attacker, whom he kept at bay until Xie returned with three other officers, fellow railway policeman Peng Bin, and traffic police Yu Meng and Li Rui. Like Zhang, they were armed only with batons. As the five officers restrained the first attacker, two more armed persons came up behind them. The officers attempted to push back the attackers to the empty parking lot outside, with Zhang shouting "Come here, go chase me, come cut me!" ("来来，来追我，来砍我！"). The trio, two men and one woman, eventually ran off further into the station, with the three railway officers chasing after them.
When a security guard ran at the frontmost attacker, Zhang reached for the one in front of him, but this attacker turned around and slashed his left hand, severing his index finger and the top of his thumb. Zhang's attacker joined the second in injuring the intervening security guard before stabbing the other two police officers, Xie in the head and Peng in the abdomen. At 21:19, the three attackers escaped through the bus depot onto Zhanqian Road. Though heavily wounded, the three officers remained in pursuit, being joined by arriving police and passersby. The attack lasted around twelve minutes.
According to China Central Television, a four-man SWAT team from the Guandu branch of Kunming Municipal Public Security Bureau was on site within ten minutes of the start of the knife attack. At around 21:35, all five attackers were surrounded at the intersection of Beijing Road and Yongping Road. Police initially attempted to subdue the attackers using tear-gas shells but were unable to do so. The sole member of the team with an automatic weapon shot five of the attackers in rapid succession, killing four of them, after two warning shots were fired. A wounded female suspect was detained at the scene and sent to a hospital.
Initial reports had incorrectly indicated ten assailants. China News Service quoted a "Mr. Tan", who remembered seven to eight attackers indiscriminately slashing people regardless of age, even stabbing the wounded on the floor until they were dead. He also saw a police officer carrying a child of about five years of age, with slashed trousers and blood streaming down their legs. Traveller Zuo Ruoxing, who was travelling with his friend Pan Huabing, also recalled seven or eight men, with one attempting to stab Pan's daughter, though the girl's father ended up taking the fatal injury to the throat.
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2014 Kunming attack
On 1 March 2014, a group of five knife-wielding terrorists attacked passengers in the Kunming Railway Station in Kunming, Yunnan, China, killing 31 people, and wounding 143 others. The attackers pulled out long-bladed knives and stabbed and slashed passengers at random. Four assailants were shot to death by police on the spot and one injured perpetrator was arrested. Police announced on 3 March that the six-man, two-woman group had been neutralized, after the arrest of three remaining suspects.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack and no ties to any organization have been identified; in effect the group was a singular terror cell. Xinhua News Agency and the government of Kunming said that the attack had been linked to Sunni extremists which were a faction of Xinjiang separatists. Police said that they had confiscated a black, hand-painted East Turkestan flag at the scene, which is associated with the Uyghur separatists from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
At 21:12 on 1 March 2014, a group of five individuals, all dressed in black clothes and armed with knives and cleavers, rushed into a waiting area of Kunming railway station, attacking people indiscriminately. From their starting point, the group moved separately through the station square, the second ticket area, the ticket main hall, and the small baggage storage area. Witnesses described two of the attackers, who lingered at the ticket counters as a man and a woman, both around 30 years old and 170 cm in height, the former slightly overweight with medium hair and the latter wearing a headscarf.
Several people hid in various businesses at the station, which were protected by roller shutters. A post office with five security guards first sheltered 40 people, with the number growing to nearly a hundred by the time the attack was resolved. Chen Fang stated that nearly 200 people were hiding inside her 80 m2 (860 sq ft) restaurant for an hour, with many having to stand on tables, chairs, and the kitchen's stoves. Several dozen people shared a hiding spot in the restroom.
Xie Lin, a captain of the Kunming Railway Police Station, overheard the commotion from the initial attack and called in an apparent group fight after seeing several injured on the floor. While Xie guided passengers and staff members out, deputy station director Zhang Liyuan arrived in the waiting area, where he confronted one attacker, whom he kept at bay until Xie returned with three other officers, fellow railway policeman Peng Bin, and traffic police Yu Meng and Li Rui. Like Zhang, they were armed only with batons. As the five officers restrained the first attacker, two more armed persons came up behind them. The officers attempted to push back the attackers to the empty parking lot outside, with Zhang shouting "Come here, go chase me, come cut me!" ("来来，来追我，来砍我！"). The trio, two men and one woman, eventually ran off further into the station, with the three railway officers chasing after them.
When a security guard ran at the frontmost attacker, Zhang reached for the one in front of him, but this attacker turned around and slashed his left hand, severing his index finger and the top of his thumb. Zhang's attacker joined the second in injuring the intervening security guard before stabbing the other two police officers, Xie in the head and Peng in the abdomen. At 21:19, the three attackers escaped through the bus depot onto Zhanqian Road. Though heavily wounded, the three officers remained in pursuit, being joined by arriving police and passersby. The attack lasted around twelve minutes.
According to China Central Television, a four-man SWAT team from the Guandu branch of Kunming Municipal Public Security Bureau was on site within ten minutes of the start of the knife attack. At around 21:35, all five attackers were surrounded at the intersection of Beijing Road and Yongping Road. Police initially attempted to subdue the attackers using tear-gas shells but were unable to do so. The sole member of the team with an automatic weapon shot five of the attackers in rapid succession, killing four of them, after two warning shots were fired. A wounded female suspect was detained at the scene and sent to a hospital.
Initial reports had incorrectly indicated ten assailants. China News Service quoted a "Mr. Tan", who remembered seven to eight attackers indiscriminately slashing people regardless of age, even stabbing the wounded on the floor until they were dead. He also saw a police officer carrying a child of about five years of age, with slashed trousers and blood streaming down their legs. Traveller Zuo Ruoxing, who was travelling with his friend Pan Huabing, also recalled seven or eight men, with one attempting to stab Pan's daughter, though the girl's father ended up taking the fatal injury to the throat.
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