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{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}}
{{Infobox terrorist attack
{{Infobox terrorist attack
|partof = the [[Xinjiang conflict]]
| partof = the [[Xinjiang conflict]]
|title = 2014 Kunming attack
| title = 2014 Kunming attack
|image = Kunming Railway Station.jpg
| image = Kunming Railway Station.jpg
|caption = A view of [[Kunming Railway Station]]
| caption = A view of [[Kunming Railway Station]]
<!--
<!--
|map = {{Location my ap+| China Yunnan| width =250| float=none| caption =Location of [[Kunming]] in Yunnan| alt = Location of Kunming in Yunnan|places={{Location map~ | China Yunnan|label=Kunming| position=bottom|link=Kunming|lat_deg=25|lat_min=2|lat_sec=48.876|lat_dir=N|lon_deg=102|lon_min=42|lon_sec=37.548|lon_dir=E}}}}
|map = {{Location my ap+| China Yunnan| width =250| float=none| caption =Location of [[Kunming]] in Yunnan| alt = Location of Kunming in Yunnan|places={{Location map~ | China Yunnan|label=Kunming| position=bottom|link=Kunming|lat_deg=25|lat_min=2|lat_sec=48.876|lat_dir=N|lon_deg=102|lon_min=42|lon_sec=37.548|lon_dir=E}}}}
-->| location = [[Kunming]], Yunnan
-->
| coordinates = {{coord|25|1|3|N|102|43|15|E|region:CN-53_type:event|display=inline,title}}
|location = [[Kunming]], Yunnan
| date = 1 March 2014
|coordinates = {{coord|25|1|3|N|102|43|15|E|region:CN-53_type:event|display=inline,title}}
|date = 1 March 2014
| time = 21:20
| time = 21:20
| timezone = China Standard Time
| type = Knife attack
| timezone = China Standard Time
| type = Knife attack
| weapons =
| fatalities = 35 (including four perpetrators)
| fatalities = 35 (including four perpetrators)
| injuries = 143
| injuries = 143
| perps = [[Xinjiang conflict|Xinjiang separatists]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://time.com/11687/deadly-terror-attack-in-southwestern-china-blamed-on-separatist-muslim-uighurs/|title=Deadly Terrorist Attack in Southwestern China Blamed on Separatist Muslim Uighurs|date=2 March 2014 }}</ref>
| perps = [[Xinjiang conflict|Xinjiang separatists]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://time.com/11687/deadly-terror-attack-in-southwestern-china-blamed-on-separatist-muslim-uighurs/|title=Deadly Terrorist Attack in Southwestern China Blamed on Separatist Muslim Uighurs|date=2 March 2014 }}</ref>
| numparts = 8<ref name="xinhuanet">{{cite news|title=Kunming terrorist attack suspects captured|url=http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2014-03/03/c_133157281.htm|agency=[[Xinhua News Agency]]|access-date=3 March 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140815222440/http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2014-03/03/c_133157281.htm|archive-date=15 August 2014}}</ref>
| numparts = 8<ref name="xinhuanet">{{cite news|title=Kunming terrorist attack suspects captured|url=http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2014-03/03/c_133157281.htm|agency=[[Xinhua News Agency]]|access-date=3 March 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140815222440/http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2014-03/03/c_133157281.htm|archive-date=15 August 2014}}</ref>
| motive = [[Islamic extremism]]<ref name="bbc" />
|target = Passengers of [[Kunming railway station]]
| convicted = 4
| target = Passengers of [[Kunming railway station]]
}}
}}
{{Campaignbox Xinjiang conflict}}
{{Campaignbox Xinjiang conflict}}
On 1 March 2014, a group of 8 knife-wielding terrorists attacked passengers in the [[Kunming Railway Station]] in [[Kunming]], [[Yunnan]], China, killing 31 people, and wounding 143 others.<ref name="bbc">{{cite news|title=China separatists blamed for Kunming knife rampage|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-26404566|work=BBC News|access-date=2 March 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140302052348/http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-26404566|archive-date=2 March 2014|date=2 March 2014}}</ref> The attackers pulled out long-bladed knives and stabbed and slashed passengers at random.<ref name="diplo">{{cite web|url=https://thediplomat.com/2014/03/is-the-kunming-knife-attack-chinas-9-11/|title=Is the Kunming Knife Attack China's 9-11?|publisher=[[The Diplomat]]|access-date=4 March 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140306034201/https://thediplomat.com/2014/03/is-the-kunming-knife-attack-chinas-9-11/|archive-date=6 March 2014}}</ref><ref name="CBC">{{cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/kunming-train-station-terrorist-attack-leaves-dozens-dead-1.2556302|title=Kunming train station 'terrorist' attack leaves dozens dead|date=1 March 2014|work=[[CBC News]]|publisher=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|access-date=2 March 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140303014126/http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/kunming-train-station-terrorist-attack-leaves-dozens-dead-1.2556302|archive-date=3 March 2014}}</ref> Four assailants were shot to death by police on the spot<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/03/01/knife-men-china-train-station/5924345/ | title=27 dead in knife attack at China train station | work=USA Today | access-date=1 March 2014 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140301172124/http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/03/01/knife-men-china-train-station/5924345/ | archive-date=1 March 2014 | df=dmy-all }}</ref> and one injured perpetrator was captured. Police announced on 3 March that the six-man, two-woman group had been neutralized after the arrest of three remaining suspects.<ref name="xinhuanet" /><ref name="telegraf">{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/10673092/Chinese-police-solve-Kunming-massacre.html|title=Chinese police 'solve' Kunming massacre|work=The Daily Telegraph|access-date=4 March 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140305005259/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/10673092/Chinese-police-solve-Kunming-massacre.html|archive-date=5 March 2014|date=3 March 2014|last1=Phillips|first1=Tom}}</ref>
On 1 March 2014, a group of 8 knife-wielding terrorists attacked passengers in the [[Kunming Railway Station]] in [[Kunming]], [[Yunnan]], China, killing 31 people, and wounding 143 others.<ref name="bbc">{{cite news|title=China separatists blamed for Kunming knife rampage|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-26404566|work=BBC News|access-date=2 March 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140302052348/http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-26404566|archive-date=2 March 2014|date=2 March 2014}}</ref> The attackers pulled out long-bladed knives and stabbed and slashed passengers at random.<ref name="diplo">{{cite web|url=https://thediplomat.com/2014/03/is-the-kunming-knife-attack-chinas-9-11/|title=Is the Kunming Knife Attack China's 9-11?|publisher=[[The Diplomat]]|access-date=4 March 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140306034201/https://thediplomat.com/2014/03/is-the-kunming-knife-attack-chinas-9-11/|archive-date=6 March 2014}}</ref><ref name="CBC">{{cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/kunming-train-station-terrorist-attack-leaves-dozens-dead-1.2556302|title=Kunming train station 'terrorist' attack leaves dozens dead|date=1 March 2014|work=[[CBC News]]|publisher=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|access-date=2 March 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140303014126/http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/kunming-train-station-terrorist-attack-leaves-dozens-dead-1.2556302|archive-date=3 March 2014}}</ref> Four assailants were shot to death by police on the spot<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/03/01/knife-men-china-train-station/5924345/ | title=27 dead in knife attack at China train station | work=USA Today | access-date=1 March 2014 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140301172124/http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/03/01/knife-men-china-train-station/5924345/ | archive-date=1 March 2014 | df=dmy-all }}</ref> and one injured perpetrator was captured. Police announced on 3 March that the six-man, two-woman group had been neutralized after the arrest of three remaining suspects. As of 2024, it is the worst mass stabbing in Chinese history.<ref name="xinhuanet" /><ref name="telegraf">{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/10673092/Chinese-police-solve-Kunming-massacre.html|title=Chinese police 'solve' Kunming massacre|work=The Daily Telegraph|access-date=4 March 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140305005259/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/10673092/Chinese-police-solve-Kunming-massacre.html|archive-date=5 March 2014|date=3 March 2014|last1=Phillips|first1=Tom}}</ref>


No group claimed responsibility for the attack and no ties to any organization have been identified, in effect the group was a singular [[Clandestine cell system|terror cell]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Security Tightened in Kunming After Chinese Train Station Knife Attack|url=http://www.thewire.com/global/2014/03/security-tightened-kunming-after-chinese-train-station-knife-attack/358738/|work=The Wire|access-date=4 March 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140306055422/http://www.thewire.com/global/2014/03/security-tightened-kunming-after-chinese-train-station-knife-attack/358738/|archive-date=6 March 2014|date=3 March 2014}}</ref> [[Xinhua News Agency]] and the government of Kunming said that the attack had been linked to Sunni extremists which were a faction of [[Xinjiang conflict|Xinjiang separatists]].<ref>
No group claimed responsibility for the attack and no ties to any organization have been identified, in effect the group was a singular [[Clandestine cell system|terror cell]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Security Tightened in Kunming After Chinese Train Station Knife Attack|url=http://www.thewire.com/global/2014/03/security-tightened-kunming-after-chinese-train-station-knife-attack/358738/|work=The Wire|access-date=4 March 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140306055422/http://www.thewire.com/global/2014/03/security-tightened-kunming-after-chinese-train-station-knife-attack/358738/|archive-date=6 March 2014|date=3 March 2014}}</ref> [[Xinhua News Agency]] and the government of Kunming said that the attack had been linked to Sunni extremists which were a faction of [[Xinjiang conflict|Xinjiang separatists]].<ref>
[http://news.rti.org.tw/index_newsContent.aspx?nid=487805 Xinhua News Agency: Xinjiang separatists involved in the Kunming attack] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140317135119/http://news.rti.org.tw/index_newsContent.aspx?nid=487805 |date=17 March 2014 }} 新華社:昆明案涉新疆分離勢力 (Chinese)
[http://news.rti.org.tw/index_newsContent.aspx?nid=487805 Xinhua News Agency: Xinjiang separatists involved in the Kunming attack] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140317135119/http://news.rti.org.tw/index_newsContent.aspx?nid=487805 |date=17 March 2014 }} 新華社:昆明案涉新疆分離勢力 (Chinese)
</ref><ref name="bbc" /><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-china-attack-xinjiang-20140301,0,2621490.story |title=China blames Xinjiang militants for station attack |last=Blanchard |first=Ben |agency=[[Reuters]] |work=Chicago Tribune |date=1 March 2014 |access-date=1 March 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140302000657/http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-china-attack-xinjiang-20140301,0,2621490.story |archive-date=2 March 2014 }}</ref> 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|Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.ifeng.com/mainland/special/kmhczkr/content-2/detail_2014_03/03/34377285_0.shtml|script-title=zh:外交部:昆明暴恐事件现场确实发现了"东突"旗帜|trans-title=Ministry of Foreign Affairs: "East Turkestan" flag found at the scene of Kunming terrorist attack|publisher=[[Phoenix Television]]|access-date=3 March 2014|date=3 March 2014|language=zh|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140303161131/http://news.ifeng.com/mainland/special/kmhczkr/content-2/detail_2014_03/03/34377285_0.shtml|archive-date=3 March 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gcpnews.com/articles/2014-03-01/C1063_112756.html|script-title=zh:警方搜出"疆独"分子旗帜和凶器|trans-title=Police uncovered flag and weapons used by "Xinjiang separatists"|date=2 March 2014|language=zh|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141029132402/http://www.gcpnews.com/articles/2014-03-01/C1063_112756.html|archive-date=29 October 2014}}</ref>
</ref><ref name="bbc" /><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-china-attack-xinjiang-20140301,0,2621490.story |title=China blames Xinjiang militants for station attack |last=Blanchard |first=Ben |agency=[[Reuters]] |work=Chicago Tribune |date=1 March 2014 |access-date=1 March 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140302000657/http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-china-attack-xinjiang-20140301,0,2621490.story |archive-date=2 March 2014 }}</ref> 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|Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.ifeng.com/mainland/special/kmhczkr/content-2/detail_2014_03/03/34377285_0.shtml|script-title=zh:外交部:昆明暴恐事件现场确实发现了"东突"旗帜|trans-title=Ministry of Foreign Affairs: "East Turkestan" flag found at the scene of Kunming terrorist attack|publisher=[[Phoenix Television]]|access-date=3 March 2014|date=3 March 2014|language=zh|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140303161131/http://news.ifeng.com/mainland/special/kmhczkr/content-2/detail_2014_03/03/34377285_0.shtml|archive-date=3 March 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gcpnews.com/articles/2014-03-01/C1063_112756.html|script-title=zh:警方搜出"疆独"分子旗帜和凶器|trans-title=Police uncovered flag and weapons used by "Xinjiang separatists"|date=2 March 2014|language=zh|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141029132402/http://www.gcpnews.com/articles/2014-03-01/C1063_112756.html|archive-date=29 October 2014}}</ref>


==Attack==
==Attack==
At 21:20 on 1 March 2014,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2014-03/02/c_126208772.htm |title=Xi vows punishment on terrorists, careful rescue for victims |agency=[[Xinhua News Agency]] |date=2 March 2014 |access-date=1 March 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140303235536/http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2014-03/02/c_126208772.htm |archive-date=3 March 2014 }}</ref> a group of individuals dressed in black clothes rushed into the square and ticket lobby of [[Kunming railway station]] and started to attack people indiscriminately.<ref name=201403analects/> Initial reports indicated there were ten assailants armed with knives and cleavers.<ref name=201403analects/>
At 21:20 on 1 March 2014,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2014-03/02/c_126208772.htm |title=Xi vows punishment on terrorists, careful rescue for victims |agency=[[Xinhua News Agency]] |date=2 March 2014 |access-date=1 March 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140303235536/http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2014-03/02/c_126208772.htm |archive-date=3 March 2014 }}</ref> a group of five individuals dressed in black clothes rushed into the square and ticket lobby of [[Kunming railway station]] and started to attack people indiscriminately.<ref name=201403analects/> Initial reports had incorrectly indicated ten assailants,<ref name=201403analects/> armed with knives and cleavers.


The assailants killed 31 people and injured 143 (including seven policemen). Two security guards employed by the station were among the dead. The wounded were treated at 11 hospitals in Kunming.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2014-03-02/112329601642.shtml|script-title=zh:昆明火车站暴力恐怖案143名伤者中73人重伤|trans-title=73 civilians were seriously injured among all the 143 wounded during Kunming Railway Station Attack|date=2 March 2014|publisher=Sina News|access-date=3 March 2014|language=zh|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141029140020/http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2014-03-02/112329601642.shtml|archive-date=29 October 2014}}</ref> Police initially attempted to subdue the attackers using tear-gas shells but were unable to do so,<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2014-03-02/140229602259.shtml|script-title=zh:目击者:昆明警方使用催泪枪无效后击毙暴徒|trans-title=Witness: policemen shot and killed attackers after teargas warnings|date=2 March 2014|publisher=Sina News|access-date=3 March 2014|language=zh|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141029141339/http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2014-03-02/140229602259.shtml|archive-date=29 October 2014}}</ref> before shooting four suspects and arresting one. A wounded female suspect was detained at the scene and sent to a hospital.<ref name="getting normal"/>
The assailants killed 31 people and injured 143 (including seven policemen). Two security guards employed by the station were among the dead. The wounded were treated at 11 hospitals in Kunming.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2014-03-02/112329601642.shtml|script-title=zh:昆明火车站暴力恐怖案143名伤者中73人重伤|trans-title=73 civilians were seriously injured among all the 143 wounded during Kunming Railway Station Attack|date=2 March 2014|publisher=Sina News|access-date=3 March 2014|language=zh|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141029140020/http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2014-03-02/112329601642.shtml|archive-date=29 October 2014}}</ref> Police initially attempted to subdue the attackers using tear-gas shells but were unable to do so,<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2014-03-02/140229602259.shtml|script-title=zh:目击者:昆明警方使用催泪枪无效后击毙暴徒|trans-title=Witness: policemen shot and killed attackers after teargas warnings|date=2 March 2014|publisher=Sina News|access-date=3 March 2014|language=zh|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141029141339/http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2014-03-02/140229602259.shtml|archive-date=29 October 2014}}</ref> before shooting four suspects and arresting one. A wounded female suspect was detained at the scene and sent to a hospital.<ref name="getting normal"/>
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On 2 March, armed police patrolled the area around Kunming Railway Station.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://slide.news.sina.com.cn/c/slide_1_55674_44919.html|script-title=zh:昆明火车站武警 持枪执勤|trans-title=Armed policemen are on duty near the railway station|date=2 March 2014|publisher=Sina Photo News|access-date=3 March 2014|language=zh|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140306195305/http://slide.news.sina.com.cn/c/slide_1_55674_44919.html|archive-date=6 March 2014}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2014-03-02/151329602509.shtml|title=成都武警持枪在火车站执勤(组图)|trans-title=Armed policemen from Chengdu at the railway station (pictured)|date=2 March 2014|publisher=Sina News|access-date=3 March 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140309080333/http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2014-03-02/151329602509.shtml|archive-date=9 March 2014}}</ref> In the early morning, locals put flowers on the square in front of the station to mourn the dead.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://slide.news.sina.com.cn/c/slide_1_55674_44917.html|script-title=zh:昆明市民在火车站广场献花悼念遇难者|trans-title=Kunming citizens presenting bouquets at the railway station to mourn the dead|date=2 March 2014|publisher=Sina News|access-date=3 March 2014|language=zh|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140306195301/http://slide.news.sina.com.cn/c/slide_1_55674_44917.html|archive-date=6 March 2014}}</ref> At 13:00, the Kunming Police disclosed information on two suspects, one woman and one man, according to statements of witnesses.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.sohu.com/20140302/n395891917.shtml|script-title=zh:昆明暴恐案:警方公布两名暴徒基本信息|trans-title=Police publicized the information of two suspects during Kunming attack|date=2 March 2014|work=Jinghua Times|access-date=3 March 2014|language=zh|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140306045102/http://news.sohu.com/20140302/n395891917.shtml|archive-date=6 March 2014}}</ref>
On 2 March, armed police patrolled the area around Kunming Railway Station.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://slide.news.sina.com.cn/c/slide_1_55674_44919.html|script-title=zh:昆明火车站武警 持枪执勤|trans-title=Armed policemen are on duty near the railway station|date=2 March 2014|publisher=Sina Photo News|access-date=3 March 2014|language=zh|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140306195305/http://slide.news.sina.com.cn/c/slide_1_55674_44919.html|archive-date=6 March 2014}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2014-03-02/151329602509.shtml|title=成都武警持枪在火车站执勤(组图)|trans-title=Armed policemen from Chengdu at the railway station (pictured)|date=2 March 2014|publisher=Sina News|access-date=3 March 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140309080333/http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2014-03-02/151329602509.shtml|archive-date=9 March 2014}}</ref> In the early morning, locals put flowers on the square in front of the station to mourn the dead.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://slide.news.sina.com.cn/c/slide_1_55674_44917.html|script-title=zh:昆明市民在火车站广场献花悼念遇难者|trans-title=Kunming citizens presenting bouquets at the railway station to mourn the dead|date=2 March 2014|publisher=Sina News|access-date=3 March 2014|language=zh|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140306195301/http://slide.news.sina.com.cn/c/slide_1_55674_44917.html|archive-date=6 March 2014}}</ref> At 13:00, the Kunming Police disclosed information on two suspects, one woman and one man, according to statements of witnesses.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.sohu.com/20140302/n395891917.shtml|script-title=zh:昆明暴恐案:警方公布两名暴徒基本信息|trans-title=Police publicized the information of two suspects during Kunming attack|date=2 March 2014|work=Jinghua Times|access-date=3 March 2014|language=zh|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140306045102/http://news.sohu.com/20140302/n395891917.shtml|archive-date=6 March 2014}}</ref>


In the aftermath of the attack, heavy police presence was noted in Dashuying, a low-income ghetto that houses many of Kunming's [[Uyghur people|Uyghurs]].<ref name="telegraf"/> Kunming police interrogated members of the small local Uyghur community, questioning them at gunpoint.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-attack-idUSBREA220Z120140303 |title=China train station attack risks driving ethnic wedge deeper |last1=Pomfret |first1=James |last2=Martina |first2=Michael |date=3 March 2014 |work=Reuters |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151011062209/http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/03/us-china-attack-idUSBREA220Z120140303 |archive-date=11 October 2015 }}</ref>
In the aftermath of the attack, heavy police presence was noted in Dashuying, a low-income ghetto that houses many of Kunming's [[Uyghur people|Uyghurs]],<ref name="telegraf"/> and local residents were questioned by police.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-attack-idUSBREA220Z120140303 |title=China train station attack risks driving ethnic wedge deeper |last1=Pomfret |first1=James |last2=Martina |first2=Michael |date=3 March 2014 |work=Reuters |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151011062209/http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/03/us-china-attack-idUSBREA220Z120140303 |archive-date=11 October 2015 }}</ref>


Yunnan's Communist Party Secretary [[Qin Guangrong]] said on 4 March that he had targeted sufficient resources to help the victims, who would not have to bear medical costs. Emergency services had processed the injured, and compensation arrangements were being discussed.<ref name=20140304sina/> Qin said that the absence of clear threat up to that point meant terrorism prevention had not been a high priority in Yunnan. He admitted to inadequacies in resources, policing and intelligence gathering.<ref name=20140304sina/>
Yunnan's Communist Party Secretary [[Qin Guangrong]] said on 4 March that he had targeted sufficient resources to help the victims, who would not have to bear medical costs. Emergency services had processed the injured, and compensation arrangements were being discussed.<ref name=20140304sina/> Qin said that the absence of clear threat up to that point meant terrorism prevention had not been a high priority in Yunnan. He admitted to inadequacies in resources, policing and intelligence gathering.<ref name=20140304sina/>


== Attackers ==
== Attackers ==
On 3 March the [[Ministry of Public Security (China)|Ministry of Public Security]] announced that police had arrested three suspects and said that an eight-person terrorist group was responsible for the attack,<ref name=xinhuanet /><ref name="telegraf"/><ref>{{cite news|title=Chinese Police Arrests 3 Suspects over Kunming Terrorist Attack|url=http://news.biharprabha.com/2014/03/chinese-police-arrests-3-suspects-over-kunming-terrorist-attack/|agency=Indo-Asian News Service|publisher=news.biharprabha.com|access-date=3 March 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140314090216/http://news.biharprabha.com/2014/03/chinese-police-arrests-3-suspects-over-kunming-terrorist-attack/|archive-date=14 March 2014}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.ifeng.com/mainland/special/kmhczkr/content-5/detail_2014_03/02/34338646_0.shtml|script-title=zh:快讯:昆明恐袭事件三名暴徒街头被擒|trans-title=Express: three suspects of Kunming Terrorist Attack arrested|date=2 March 2014|publisher=Phoenix Television|access-date=3 March 2014|language=zh|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140302223246/http://news.ifeng.com/mainland/special/kmhczkr/content-5/detail_2014_03/02/34338646_0.shtml|archive-date=2 March 2014}}</ref> the leader of which was named Abdurehim Kurban.{{#tag:ref|Abdul Rehim Kurban: {{lang-ug|ئابدۇرېھىم قۇربان|translit=Abdurëhim Qurban}}; {{zh|s=阿不都热依木·库尔班 |p=Ābùdūrèyīmù·Kù'ěrbān}}|group="note"}} [[Voice of America]], a broadcaster overseen by the U.S. Agency for Global Media, an agency of the United States government, claimed that there had been scant information from official sources as to the identities, or even evidence that the attackers were Uyghurs.<ref name="20140305voa">[http://www.voanews.com/content/train-station-attackers-were-trying-to-leave-china-for-jihad-official/1864422.html "Train Station Attackers Were Trying to Leave China for Jihad: Official"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304234927/http://www.voanews.com/content/train-station-attackers-were-trying-to-leave-china-for-jihad-official/1864422.html |date=4 March 2016 }}. [[Voice of America]] (5 March 2014)</ref>
On 3 March the [[Ministry of Public Security (China)|Ministry of Public Security]] announced that police had arrested three suspects and said that an eight-person terrorist group was responsible for the attack,<ref name=xinhuanet /><ref name="telegraf"/><ref>{{cite news|title=Chinese Police Arrests 3 Suspects over Kunming Terrorist Attack|url=http://news.biharprabha.com/2014/03/chinese-police-arrests-3-suspects-over-kunming-terrorist-attack/|agency=Indo-Asian News Service|publisher=news.biharprabha.com|access-date=3 March 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140314090216/http://news.biharprabha.com/2014/03/chinese-police-arrests-3-suspects-over-kunming-terrorist-attack/|archive-date=14 March 2014}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.ifeng.com/mainland/special/kmhczkr/content-5/detail_2014_03/02/34338646_0.shtml|script-title=zh:快讯:昆明恐袭事件三名暴徒街头被擒|trans-title=Express: three suspects of Kunming Terrorist Attack arrested|date=2 March 2014|publisher=Phoenix Television|access-date=3 March 2014|language=zh|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140302223246/http://news.ifeng.com/mainland/special/kmhczkr/content-5/detail_2014_03/02/34338646_0.shtml|archive-date=2 March 2014}}</ref> with five direct perpetrators and three others involved only in plotting. The leader of the group was named as Abdurehim Kurban{{#tag:ref|Abdul Rehim Kurban: {{langx|ug|ئابدۇرېھىم قۇربان|translit=Abdurëhim Qurban}}; {{zh|s=阿不都热依木·库尔班 |p=Ābùdūrèyīmù·Kù'ěrbān}}|group="note"}}, one of the assailants killed on scene. [[Voice of America]], a news network owned by the United States government, claimed that there had been scant information from official sources as to the identities, or even evidence that the attackers were Uyghurs.<ref name="20140305voa">[http://www.voanews.com/content/train-station-attackers-were-trying-to-leave-china-for-jihad-official/1864422.html "Train Station Attackers Were Trying to Leave China for Jihad: Official"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304234927/http://www.voanews.com/content/train-station-attackers-were-trying-to-leave-china-for-jihad-official/1864422.html |date=4 March 2016 }}. [[Voice of America]] (5 March 2014)</ref>


Qin Guangrong said that the captured wounded suspect had confessed to the crime. He asserted the group started off in Yunnan and originally planned to participate in "[[jihad]]" abroad. They allegedly tried unsuccessfully to leave the country from south Yunnan, and also from [[Guangdong]]. Unable to do so, they returned to Yunnan, and carried out the attack.<ref name=20140304sina>{{cite news|url=http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2014-03-04/191529621934.shtml |script-title=zh:昆明车站暴徒原想参加「圣战」辗转多地出不去 |trans-title=Kunming Train Station's Assailants Originally Wanted To Participate in "Holy War", Could Not Leave After Trying in Multiple Places |date=4 March 2014 |agency=[[China National Radio]] |publisher=[[Sina Corp]] |language=zh |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140311050606/http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2014-03-04/191529621934.shtml |archive-date=11 March 2014 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=20140305voa/> Sources from [[Radio Free Asia]], another broadcaster that is under the supervision of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, seem to confirm that they were Uyghurs, saying the gang most likely originated from a township in [[Hotan]], Xinjiang, where it was claimed that police had violently suppressed a demonstration against the closure of a mosque and the arrest of its imam in June 2013 that ended in 15 dead and 50 injured.<ref name="20140303rfa">[http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/desperate-03032014224353.html "China Train Station Attackers May Have Acted 'in Desperation'"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304034511/http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/desperate-03032014224353.html |date=4 March 2016 }} [[Radio Free Asia]] (3 March 2014)</ref> The sources claimed that after witnessing the capture of fellow Uyghurs attempting to flee China into Laos, the group became desperate because of their lack of identity papers along with being on the run from police.<ref name=20140303rfa/>
Qin Guangrong said that the captured wounded suspect had confessed to the crime. He asserted the group started off in Yunnan and originally planned to participate in "[[jihad]]" abroad. They allegedly tried unsuccessfully to leave the country from south Yunnan, and also from [[Guangdong]]. Unable to do so, they returned to Yunnan, and carried out the attack.<ref name=20140304sina>{{cite news|url=http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2014-03-04/191529621934.shtml |script-title=zh:昆明车站暴徒原想参加「圣战」辗转多地出不去 |trans-title=Kunming Train Station's Assailants Originally Wanted To Participate in "Holy War", Could Not Leave After Trying in Multiple Places |date=4 March 2014 |agency=[[China National Radio]] |publisher=[[Sina Corp]] |language=zh |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140311050606/http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2014-03-04/191529621934.shtml |archive-date=11 March 2014 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=20140305voa/> Anonymous sources from [[Radio Free Asia]], another broadcaster that is under the supervision of the U.S. government, seem to confirm that they were Uyghurs, saying the gang most likely originated from a township in [[Hotan]], Xinjiang, where it was claimed that police had violently suppressed a demonstration against the closure of a mosque and the arrest of its imam in June 2013 that ended in 15 dead and 50 injured.<ref name="20140303rfa">[http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/desperate-03032014224353.html "China Train Station Attackers May Have Acted 'in Desperation'"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304034511/http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/desperate-03032014224353.html |date=4 March 2016 }} [[Radio Free Asia]] (3 March 2014)</ref> The sources claimed that after witnessing the capture of fellow Uyghurs attempting to flee China into Laos, the group became desperate because of their lack of identity papers along with being on the run from police.<ref name=20140303rfa/>


The surviving wounded suspect, a pregnant woman, Patigul Tohti, and three men, Iskandar Ehet, Turgun Tohtunyaz and Hasayn Muhammad, who were accused of masterminding the attack and had been arrested while attempting to flee across the border two days before the attack, were tried for and convicted of murder and organizing and leading a terrorist organization in the Kunming City Intermediate People's Court. Tohti was sentenced to life in prison, while Ehet, Tohtunyaz, and Muhammad received death sentences, and were executed in March 2015.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/03/24/world/asia/ap-as-china-train-station-attack.html|title=China Train Station Attack|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=30 October 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150709150301/http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/03/24/world/asia/ap-as-china-train-station-attack.html|archive-date=9 July 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-32029430 |title=China executes three over Kunming station attack |work=[[BBC News]] |access-date=30 October 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161031085505/http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-32029430 |archive-date=31 October 2016 |date=24 March 2015 }}</ref>
The three people accused of masterminding the attack, Iskandar Ehet, Turgun Tohtunyaz and Hasayn Muhammad, had been arrested on 27 Feb in Shadian, Yunnan, while attempting to illegally cross the border. The surviving assailant suspect, Patigul Tohti, a pregnant woman, and the three men were tried for and convicted of murder and organizing and leading a terrorist organization in the Kunming City Intermediate People's Court. Tohti was sentenced to life in prison, while Ehet, Tohtunyaz, and Muhammad received death sentences, and were executed on 24 March 2015.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/03/24/world/asia/ap-as-china-train-station-attack.html|title=China Train Station Attack|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=30 October 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150709150301/http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/03/24/world/asia/ap-as-china-train-station-attack.html|archive-date=9 July 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-32029430 |title=China executes three over Kunming station attack |work=[[BBC News]] |access-date=30 October 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161031085505/http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-32029430 |archive-date=31 October 2016 |date=24 March 2015 }}</ref>


==Reactions==
==Reactions==
{{Excessive examples|date=October 2023}}


===Domestic===
===Domestic===
After the terrorist attack, [[Chinese Communist Party]] (CCP) [[General Secretary of the Communist Party of China|general secretary]] [[Xi Jinping]] and [[Premier of the People's Republic of China|Premier]] [[Li Keqiang]] assigned [[Meng Jianzhu]], Secretary of the [[Central Politics and Law Commission of the Communist Party of China|Central Politics and Law Commission]], to oversee the investigation.<ref name=al-j>{{cite web | url = http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2014/03/dozens-killed-china-stabbing-spree-20143117454596392.html | title = Separatists accused of China stabbing spree | date = 2 March 2014 | access-date = 2 March 2014 | publisher = [[Al Jazeera]] | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140302040330/http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2014/03/dozens-killed-china-stabbing-spree-20143117454596392.html | archive-date = 2 March 2014 | df = dmy-all }}</ref> There was some coverage in the regional press; local ''Kunming Times'' carried the story on its front page. But the ''[[South China Morning Post]]'' (SCMP) remarked that the [[China Central Television]] evening news programme as well as other national media did not report the attack. Coverage was also scant in the ''[[Southern Metropolis Daily]]'' in Guangzhou and the ''[[Yangtse Evening Post]]''.<ref name="20140302scmpandrea">Chen, Andrea (2 March 2014). [http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1438711/while-world-reels-shock-kunming-attack-news-notably-absent-chinas-front "While world reels in shock at Kunming attack, news is notably absent from china's front pages"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924165952/http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1438711/while-world-reels-shock-kunming-attack-news-notably-absent-chinas-front |date=24 September 2015 }}. ''South China Morning Post''.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-china-stabbing-silence-20140419-story.html|title=China silent on deadly knife attack in Kunming railway station|date=19 April 2014|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US|access-date=12 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191212111640/https://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-china-stabbing-silence-20140419-story.html|archive-date=12 December 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=20140303nytdidi/>
After the terrorist attack, [[Chinese Communist Party]] (CCP) [[General Secretary of the Communist Party of China|general secretary]] [[Xi Jinping]] and [[Premier of the People's Republic of China|Premier]] [[Li Keqiang]] assigned [[Meng Jianzhu]], Secretary of the [[Central Politics and Law Commission of the Communist Party of China|Central Politics and Law Commission]], to oversee the investigation.<ref name=al-j>{{cite web | url = http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2014/03/dozens-killed-china-stabbing-spree-20143117454596392.html | title = Separatists accused of China stabbing spree | date = 2 March 2014 | access-date = 2 March 2014 | publisher = [[Al Jazeera English|Al Jazeera]] | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140302040330/http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2014/03/dozens-killed-china-stabbing-spree-20143117454596392.html | archive-date = 2 March 2014 | df = dmy-all }}</ref> There was some coverage in the regional press; local ''Kunming Times'' carried the story on its front page. But the ''[[South China Morning Post]]'' (SCMP) remarked that the [[China Central Television]] evening news programme as well as other national media did not report the attack. Coverage was also scant in the ''[[Southern Metropolis Daily]]'' in Guangzhou and the ''[[Yangtse Evening Post]]''.<ref name="20140302scmpandrea">Chen, Andrea (2 March 2014). [http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1438711/while-world-reels-shock-kunming-attack-news-notably-absent-chinas-front "While world reels in shock at Kunming attack, news is notably absent from china's front pages"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924165952/http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1438711/while-world-reels-shock-kunming-attack-news-notably-absent-chinas-front |date=24 September 2015 }}. ''South China Morning Post''.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-china-stabbing-silence-20140419-story.html|title=China silent on deadly knife attack in Kunming railway station|date=19 April 2014|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US|access-date=12 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191212111640/https://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-china-stabbing-silence-20140419-story.html|archive-date=12 December 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=20140303nytdidi/>


As a result, it became a heavily discussed topic on Chinese social media, where responses ranged from anger and shock to restraint.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/kevintang/chinese-react-to-kunming-station-attacks-with-anger|title=China's Netizens React To Kunming Station Attacks With Anger, Grief|website=BuzzFeed News|language=en|access-date=12 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191212073009/https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/kevintang/chinese-react-to-kunming-station-attacks-with-anger|archive-date=12 December 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kf2ZDwAAQBAJ|title=China's Forgotten People: Xinjiang, Terror and the Chinese State|last=Holdstock|first=Nick|date=13 June 2019|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-1-78831-981-2|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.chinafile.com/reporting-opinion/media/enemies-humanity-china-debates-whos-blame-kunming-attack|title='Enemies of Humanity' — China Debates Who's to Blame For the Kunming Attack|date=3 March 2014|website=ChinaFile|language=en|access-date=12 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191212111617/http://www.chinafile.com/reporting-opinion/media/enemies-humanity-china-debates-whos-blame-kunming-attack|archive-date=12 December 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> Whilst ''[[China Daily]]'' noted the appeals by netizens to "stop circulating bloody pictures",<ref>{{cite news |url=http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/2014-03/01/content_17315072.htm |title=27 dead in Kunming rail station violence |date=1 March 2014 |agency=[[Xinhua News Agency]] |work=China Daily |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304104446/http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/2014-03/01/content_17315072.htm |archive-date=4 March 2016 }}</ref> microblogged and social media-hosted images of the carnage were swiftly deleted by censors.<ref name="20140302scmpandrea" /><ref name="20140303nytdidi" /> Several [[Sina Weibo]] users also referred to the incident as our "9-11"; and the CCP-owned tabloid ''[[Global Times]]'' echoed the sentiment with a headline titled, "Nothing justified civilian slaughter in China's '9-11'".<ref name="diplomat">Tiezzi, Shannon (4 March 2014). [https://thediplomat.com/2014/03/is-the-kunming-knife-attack-chinas-9-11/ "Is the Kunming Knife Attack China's 9-11?"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140306034201/https://thediplomat.com/2014/03/is-the-kunming-knife-attack-chinas-9-11/ |date=6 March 2014 }}. ''The Diplomat''.</ref><ref name="timemag1314">{{cite magazine |url=http://time.com/11687/deadly-terror-attack-in-southwestern-china-blamed-on-separatist-muslim-uighurs/ |title=Deadly Terrorist Attack in Southwestern China Blamed on Separatist Muslim Uighurs |last1=Beech |first1=Hannah |date=1 March 2014 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140307104405/http://time.com/11687/deadly-terror-attack-in-southwestern-china-blamed-on-separatist-muslim-uighurs/ |archive-date=7 March 2014 }}</ref> Jin Canrong of Renmin University suggested the way forward would be to de-emphasise Uyghur ethnicity and try to instill a greater sense of "Chineseness", stressing equal obligations and rights as Chinese citizens, while [[Barry Sautman]], a China expert at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, suggested widening the preferential policies and granting Xinjiang Uyghurs greater autonomy.<ref name="20140302AFP" /><ref name="20140303Lefig" />
As a result, it became a heavily discussed topic on Chinese social media, where responses ranged from anger and shock to restraint.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/kevintang/chinese-react-to-kunming-station-attacks-with-anger|title=China's Netizens React To Kunming Station Attacks With Anger, Grief|website=BuzzFeed News|date=3 March 2014 |language=en|access-date=12 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191212073009/https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/kevintang/chinese-react-to-kunming-station-attacks-with-anger|archive-date=12 December 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kf2ZDwAAQBAJ|title=China's Forgotten People: Xinjiang, Terror and the Chinese State|last=Holdstock|first=Nick|date=13 June 2019|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-1-78831-981-2|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.chinafile.com/reporting-opinion/media/enemies-humanity-china-debates-whos-blame-kunming-attack|title='Enemies of Humanity' — China Debates Who's to Blame For the Kunming Attack|date=3 March 2014|website=ChinaFile|language=en|access-date=12 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191212111617/http://www.chinafile.com/reporting-opinion/media/enemies-humanity-china-debates-whos-blame-kunming-attack|archive-date=12 December 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> Whilst ''[[China Daily]]'' noted the appeals by netizens to "stop circulating bloody pictures",<ref>{{cite news |url=http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/2014-03/01/content_17315072.htm |title=27 dead in Kunming rail station violence |date=1 March 2014 |agency=[[Xinhua News Agency]] |work=China Daily |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304104446/http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/2014-03/01/content_17315072.htm |archive-date=4 March 2016 }}</ref> microblogged and social media-hosted images of the carnage were swiftly deleted by censors.<ref name="20140302scmpandrea" /><ref name="20140303nytdidi" /> Several [[Sina Weibo]] users also referred to the incident as our "9-11"; and the CCP-owned tabloid ''[[Global Times]]'' echoed the sentiment with a headline titled, "Nothing justified civilian slaughter in China's '9-11'".<ref name="diplomat">Tiezzi, Shannon (4 March 2014). [https://thediplomat.com/2014/03/is-the-kunming-knife-attack-chinas-9-11/ "Is the Kunming Knife Attack China's 9-11?"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140306034201/https://thediplomat.com/2014/03/is-the-kunming-knife-attack-chinas-9-11/ |date=6 March 2014 }}. ''The Diplomat''.</ref><ref name="timemag1314">{{cite magazine |url=https://time.com/11687/deadly-terror-attack-in-southwestern-china-blamed-on-separatist-muslim-uighurs/ |title=Deadly Terrorist Attack in Southwestern China Blamed on Separatist Muslim Uighurs |last1=Beech |first1=Hannah |date=1 March 2014 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140307104405/http://time.com/11687/deadly-terror-attack-in-southwestern-china-blamed-on-separatist-muslim-uighurs/ |archive-date=7 March 2014 }}</ref> [[Jin Canrong]] of Renmin University suggested the way forward would be to de-emphasise Uyghur ethnicity and try to instill a greater sense of "Chineseness", stressing equal obligations and rights as Chinese citizens, while [[Barry Sautman]], a China expert at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, suggested widening the preferential policies and granting Xinjiang Uyghurs greater autonomy.<ref name="20140302AFP" /><ref name="20140303Lefig" />


The ''SCMP'' suggested the attack had taken place at the most politically sensitive time of year, which was on the eve of the second session of the [[National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference]].<ref name="20140302scmpandrea" /> Lü Xinhua, spokesman for the conference, denounced the attack as a serious violent terrorist attack planned and organized by terrorist elements from Xinjiang.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2014-03/02/content_17315688.htm| work = China Daily| access-date = 2 March 2014| title = China to severely punish terrorist attackers: spokesman| url-status = live| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140302174117/http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2014-03/02/content_17315688.htm| archive-date = 2 March 2014| df = dmy-all}}</ref> This assertion has been echoed by officials in Kunming.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1438306/34-dead-130-injured-knife-attack-kunming-railway-station| title = One female suspect in custody after 33 are killed in Kunming station massacre| first = Teddy| last = Ng| access-date = 2 March 2014| url-status = live| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140302080752/http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1438306/34-dead-130-injured-knife-attack-kunming-railway-station| archive-date = 2 March 2014| df = dmy-all| date = 2 March 2014}}</ref>
The ''SCMP'' suggested the attack had taken place at the most politically sensitive time of year, which was on the eve of the second session of the [[National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference]].<ref name="20140302scmpandrea" /> Lü Xinhua, spokesman for the conference, denounced the attack as a serious violent terrorist attack planned and organized by terrorist elements from Xinjiang.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2014-03/02/content_17315688.htm| work = China Daily| access-date = 2 March 2014| title = China to severely punish terrorist attackers: spokesman| url-status = live| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140302174117/http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2014-03/02/content_17315688.htm| archive-date = 2 March 2014| df = dmy-all}}</ref> This assertion has been echoed by officials in Kunming.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1438306/34-dead-130-injured-knife-attack-kunming-railway-station| title = One female suspect in custody after 33 are killed in Kunming station massacre| first = Teddy| last = Ng| access-date = 2 March 2014| url-status = live| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140302080752/http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1438306/34-dead-130-injured-knife-attack-kunming-railway-station| archive-date = 2 March 2014| df = dmy-all| date = 2 March 2014}}</ref>
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==== Western media coverage ====
==== Western media coverage ====


Following the event, many major [[Western world|Western]] media outlets covered the event with the [[quotation marks]] around the word "terrorism," some in the article's headline, some in the body, and some in both.<ref name="People's Daily Online">People's Daily Online, 4 March 2014 [http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/98649/8553601.html "Western media coverage of Kunming's terror attack shows sheer mendacity and heartlessness"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140927053343/http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/98649/8553601.html |date=27 September 2014 }}, 4 March 2014.</ref><ref name="Dawn, Yiqin Fu">Dawn, Yiqin Fu, 5 March 2014 [http://www.dawn.com/news/1091091 "Chinese are angry at western media's portrayal of the Kunming attack"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141019115054/http://www.dawn.com/news/1091091 |date=19 October 2014 }}, 5 March 2014.</ref> China accused Western commentators, with their focus on Uyghur rights, of hypocrisy and double standards on terrorism.<ref name="BBC News, Kunming, John Sudworth">BBC News, Kunming, John Sudworth, 3 March 2014 [https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-china-blog-26380542 "Shock and anger after Kunming brutality"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141012162751/http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-china-blog-26380542 |date=12 October 2014 }}, 3 March 2014.</ref> Chinese citizens followed that with criticism against the United States government for refusing to identify the rampage as a terrorist attack, with some comparing it against the Chinese response to the [[Boston Marathon bombing]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1439338/chinese-netizens-slam-us-refusing-call-kunming-attack-terrorist-act|title=Chinese netizens slam US for refusing to call Kunming attack a 'terrorist act' &#124; South China Morning Post|website=Scmp.com|access-date=30 October 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160923035240/http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1439338/chinese-netizens-slam-us-refusing-call-kunming-attack-terrorist-act|archive-date=23 September 2016|date=3 March 2014}}</ref>
Following the event, many major [[Western world|Western]] media outlets covered the event with the [[quotation marks]] around the word "terrorism," some in the article's headline, some in the body, and some in both.<ref name="People's Daily Online">People's Daily Online, 4 March 2014 [http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/98649/8553601.html "Western media coverage of Kunming's terror attack shows sheer mendacity and heartlessness"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140927053343/http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/98649/8553601.html |date=27 September 2014 }}, 4 March 2014.</ref><ref name="Dawn, Yiqin Fu">Dawn, Yiqin Fu, 5 March 2014 [http://www.dawn.com/news/1091091 "Chinese are angry at western media's portrayal of the Kunming attack"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141019115054/http://www.dawn.com/news/1091091 |date=19 October 2014 }}, 5 March 2014.</ref> China accused Western commentators of hypocrisy and double standards on terrorism.<ref name="BBC News, Kunming, John Sudworth">BBC News, Kunming, John Sudworth, 3 March 2014 [https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-china-blog-26380542 "Shock and anger after Kunming brutality"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141012162751/http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-china-blog-26380542 |date=12 October 2014 }}, 3 March 2014.</ref> Chinese citizens followed that with criticism against the United States government for refusing to identify the attack as a terrorist attack, with some comparing it against the Chinese response to the [[Boston Marathon bombing]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1439338/chinese-netizens-slam-us-refusing-call-kunming-attack-terrorist-act|title=Chinese netizens slam US for refusing to call Kunming attack a 'terrorist act' &#124; South China Morning Post|website=Scmp.com|access-date=30 October 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160923035240/http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1439338/chinese-netizens-slam-us-refusing-call-kunming-attack-terrorist-act|archive-date=23 September 2016|date=3 March 2014}}</ref>


The ''[[People's Daily]],'' the official newspaper of the [[Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party]], accused Western media of ambivalence and failing to state unequivocally that the attack was an act of terrorism, saying, "These media are always the loudest when it comes to anti-terrorism, but in the Kunming train station terrorist violence they lost their voice and spoke confusedly, making people angry," and named American news outlets [[CNN]], [[The Associated Press]], ''[[The New York Times]]'' and ''[[The Washington Post]]'' as examples.<ref name=20140303nytdidi/>
The ''[[People's Daily]],'' the official newspaper of the [[Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party]], accused Western media of ambivalence and failing to state unequivocally that the attack was an act of terrorism, saying, "These media are always the loudest when it comes to anti-terrorism, but in the Kunming train station terrorist violence they lost their voice and spoke confusedly, making people angry," and named American news outlets [[CNN]], [[The Associated Press]], ''[[The New York Times]]'' and ''[[The Washington Post]]'' as examples.<ref name=20140303nytdidi/>
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</ref><ref name="20140303Lefig">Saint-Paul, Patrick (3 March 2014). [http://www.lefigaro.fr/international/2014/03/03/01003-20140303ARTFIG00157-pekin-sous-le-choc-du-11-septembre-chinois.php "Pékin sous le choc du «11 Septembre chinois»"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140309003812/http://www.lefigaro.fr/international/2014/03/03/01003-20140303ARTFIG00157-pekin-sous-le-choc-du-11-septembre-chinois.php |date=9 March 2014 }}. ''Le Figaro'' {{in lang|fr}}</ref>
</ref><ref name="20140303Lefig">Saint-Paul, Patrick (3 March 2014). [http://www.lefigaro.fr/international/2014/03/03/01003-20140303ARTFIG00157-pekin-sous-le-choc-du-11-septembre-chinois.php "Pékin sous le choc du «11 Septembre chinois»"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140309003812/http://www.lefigaro.fr/international/2014/03/03/01003-20140303ARTFIG00157-pekin-sous-le-choc-du-11-septembre-chinois.php |date=9 March 2014 }}. ''Le Figaro'' {{in lang|fr}}</ref>


[[Rebiya Kadeer]], President of the World Uyghur Congress, called on the Chinese government to rationally handle the attacks and "not to demonize Uighur people as enemies of the state". The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman [[Qin Gang]] responded by condemning the WUC as "an anti-China separatist organization", saying that the WUC "cannot represent Uyghur people" and that Kadeer "showed her ulterior political motive by linking the terrorist incidents at Kunming together with a particular ethnic group".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/china/2014/03/140304_china_denounce_group|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140307140310/http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/china/2014/03/140304_china_denounce_group.shtml|deadurl=y|title=中国外交部:世维会代表不了中国维族人|date=4 March 2014|archivedate=7 March 2014|website=BBC News 中文}}</ref>
[[Rebiya Kadeer]], President of the World Uyghur Congress, called on the Chinese government to rationally handle the attacks and "not to demonize Uighur people as enemies of the state". The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman [[Qin Gang]] responded by condemning the WUC as "an anti-China separatist organization", saying that the WUC "cannot represent Uyghur people" and that Kadeer "showed her ulterior political motive by linking the terrorist incidents at Kunming together with a particular ethnic group".<ref>{{Cite web |date=4 March 2014 |title=中国外交部:世维会代表不了中国维族人 |url=https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/china/2014/03/140304_china_denounce_group |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140307140310/http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/china/2014/03/140304_china_denounce_group.shtml |archivedate=7 March 2014 |website=BBC News 中文}}</ref>


''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' mentioned that this was the first time Uyghurs had been blamed for carrying out an attack of such magnitude outside of Xinjiang.<ref name=20140302ibt/> Adjunct professor of Sinology at the [[Chinese University of Hong Kong]] Willy Lam said that official figures indicate violent conflicts appear to be on the increase. He suggested the absence of a mechanism for airing grievances and dialogue between the aggrieved and the authorities is contributing to the increase in those resorting to violence.<ref name="20140302ibt">Keating, Fiona (2 March 2014). [http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/kunming-massacre-who-are-xinjiang-separatists-china-blames-attack-video-1438542 "Kunming Massacre: Who are Xinjiang Separatists China Blames for Attack?"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140305103348/http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/kunming-massacre-who-are-xinjiang-separatists-china-blames-attack-video-1438542 |date=5 March 2014 }} [VIDEO]. ''International Business Times''.</ref> The Analects column of ''The Economist'' asserted that although the alleged group leader's name suggests he may be a Uyghur, this would be difficult to verify in a country where media are state-controlled and officials tightly control information flows. It responded to Chinese commentators who criticised outsiders for not immediately accepting official Chinese assertion of an act of politically motivated terrorism by Xinjiang separatists by saying: "But China, which prefers to play down the role of its policies in Xinjiang in generating discontent, has long sought to discredit its Uygur critics by linking them to terrorism".<ref name=201403analects>{{cite news|title=Terror in Kunming|url=https://www.economist.com/blogs/analects/2014/03/deadly-knife-attack|access-date=4 March 2014|newspaper=[[The Economist]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140303182741/http://www.economist.com/blogs/analects/2014/03/deadly-knife-attack|archive-date=3 March 2014}}</ref> ''The Economist'' also mentioned "Chinese oppression in Xinjiang" that "hit at the heart of Uighur identity" as a factor in the escalating violence, including: "students are banned from fasting during Ramadan, religious teaching for children is restricted, and Uighur-language education is limited".<ref>[https://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21598647-after-brutal-attack-china-communist-party-needs-change-its-policies-towards "China's restless West: The burden of empire"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170223045739/http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21598647-after-brutal-attack-china-communist-party-needs-change-its-policies-towards |date=23 February 2017 }}. ''The Economist''</ref> Yet according to ''Dawn'', China only discourages fasting for Uygur Muslims and encourages people to eat properly for study and work but authorities "don't force anyone to eat during Ramadan".<ref>{{cite news |agency=Associated Press |url=http://www.dawn.com/news/739445/china-discourages-fasting-for-uighur-muslims |title=China discourages fasting for Uighur Muslims |work=Dawn |location=Pakistan |date=3 August 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140309113252/http://www.dawn.com/news/739445/china-discourages-fasting-for-uighur-muslims |archive-date=9 March 2014 }}</ref> Rohan Gunaratna, a terrorism expert at [[Nanyang Technological University]], Singapore, said there had been intelligence failure. He estimated that "in the last 12 months there have been over 200 attacks [in Xinjiang], maybe even more. It is getting worse".<ref name="20140302nytjacobs">Jacobs, Andrew; Buckley, Chris (2 March 2014). [https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/03/world/asia/china.html "China Blames Xinjiang Separatists for Stabbing Rampage at Train Station"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170219083126/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/03/world/asia/china.html |date=19 February 2017 }}. ''The New York Times''</ref>
''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' mentioned that this was the first time Uyghurs had been blamed for carrying out an attack of such magnitude outside of Xinjiang.<ref name=20140302ibt/> Adjunct professor of Sinology at the [[Chinese University of Hong Kong]] Willy Lam said that official figures indicate violent conflicts appear to be on the increase. He suggested the absence of a mechanism for airing grievances and dialogue between the aggrieved and the authorities is contributing to the increase in those resorting to violence.<ref name="20140302ibt">Keating, Fiona (2 March 2014). [http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/kunming-massacre-who-are-xinjiang-separatists-china-blames-attack-video-1438542 "Kunming Massacre: Who are Xinjiang Separatists China Blames for Attack?"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140305103348/http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/kunming-massacre-who-are-xinjiang-separatists-china-blames-attack-video-1438542 |date=5 March 2014 }} [VIDEO]. ''International Business Times''.</ref> The Analects column of ''The Economist'' asserted that although the alleged group leader's name suggests he may be a Uyghur, this would be difficult to verify in a country where media are state-controlled and officials tightly control information flows. It responded to Chinese commentators who criticised outsiders for not immediately accepting official Chinese assertion of an act of politically motivated terrorism by Xinjiang separatists by saying: "But China, which prefers to play down the role of its policies in Xinjiang in generating discontent, has long sought to discredit its Uygur critics by linking them to terrorism".<ref name=201403analects>{{cite news|title=Terror in Kunming|url=https://www.economist.com/blogs/analects/2014/03/deadly-knife-attack|access-date=4 March 2014|newspaper=[[The Economist]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140303182741/http://www.economist.com/blogs/analects/2014/03/deadly-knife-attack|archive-date=3 March 2014}}</ref> ''The Economist'' also mentioned "Chinese oppression in Xinjiang" that "hit at the heart of Uighur identity" as a factor in the escalating violence, including: "students are banned from fasting during Ramadan, religious teaching for children is restricted, and Uighur-language education is limited".<ref>[https://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21598647-after-brutal-attack-china-communist-party-needs-change-its-policies-towards "China's restless West: The burden of empire"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170223045739/http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21598647-after-brutal-attack-china-communist-party-needs-change-its-policies-towards |date=23 February 2017 }}. ''The Economist''</ref> Yet according to ''Dawn'', China only discourages fasting for Uygur Muslims and encourages people to eat properly for study and work but authorities "don't force anyone to eat during Ramadan".<ref>{{cite news |agency=Associated Press |url=http://www.dawn.com/news/739445/china-discourages-fasting-for-uighur-muslims |title=China discourages fasting for Uighur Muslims |work=Dawn |location=Pakistan |date=3 August 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140309113252/http://www.dawn.com/news/739445/china-discourages-fasting-for-uighur-muslims |archive-date=9 March 2014 }}</ref> Rohan Gunaratna, a terrorism expert at [[Nanyang Technological University]], Singapore, said there had been intelligence failure. He estimated that "in the last 12 months there have been over 200 attacks [in Xinjiang], maybe even more. It is getting worse".<ref name="20140302nytjacobs">Jacobs, Andrew; Buckley, Chris (2 March 2014). [https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/03/world/asia/china.html "China Blames Xinjiang Separatists for Stabbing Rampage at Train Station"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170219083126/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/03/world/asia/china.html |date=19 February 2017 }}. ''The New York Times''</ref>

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group="note"}}


==See also==
==See also==
*[[List of massacres in China]]
*[[List of massacres in China]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group="note"}}


==References==
==References==
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[[Category:March 2014 events in China]]
[[Category:Knife attacks]]
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Revision as of 02:34, 17 November 2024

2014 Kunming attack
Part of the Xinjiang conflict
LocationKunming, Yunnan
Coordinates25°1′3″N 102°43′15″E / 25.01750°N 102.72083°E / 25.01750; 102.72083
Date1 March 2014
21:20 (China Standard Time)
TargetPassengers of Kunming railway station
Attack type
Knife attack
Deaths35 (including four perpetrators)
Injured143
PerpetratorsXinjiang separatists[1]
No. of participants
8[2]
MotiveIslamic extremism[3]
Convicted4

On 1 March 2014, a group of 8 knife-wielding terrorists attacked passengers in the Kunming Railway Station in Kunming, Yunnan, China, killing 31 people, and wounding 143 others.[3] The attackers pulled out long-bladed knives and stabbed and slashed passengers at random.[4][5] Four assailants were shot to death by police on the spot[6] and one injured perpetrator was captured. Police announced on 3 March that the six-man, two-woman group had been neutralized after the arrest of three remaining suspects. As of 2024, it is the worst mass stabbing in Chinese history.[2][7]

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.[8] 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.[9][3][10] 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.[11][12]

Attack

At 21:20 on 1 March 2014,[13] a group of five individuals dressed in black clothes rushed into the square and ticket lobby of Kunming railway station and started to attack people indiscriminately.[14] Initial reports had incorrectly indicated ten assailants,[14] armed with knives and cleavers.

The assailants killed 31 people and injured 143 (including seven policemen). Two security guards employed by the station were among the dead. The wounded were treated at 11 hospitals in Kunming.[15] Police initially attempted to subdue the attackers using tear-gas shells but were unable to do so,[16] before shooting four suspects and arresting one. A wounded female suspect was detained at the scene and sent to a hospital.[17]

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.[18]

Initial response

According to China Central Television, a four-man SWAT team was on site within ten minutes of the start of the knife attack.[19] 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.[19][20] After the incident, all trains originally scheduled to stop at Kunming Station were directed to stop elsewhere until 23:00 on 1 March when services gradually resumed.[17] Personnel at the Changshui International Airport also held an emergency meeting and tightened security though they stated that they were operating normally.[21] There were scattered news reports suggesting that similar attacks occurred in Dashuying (大树营) in the Jinma subdistrict of Kunming, but local police stated that reports of "several places suffering attacks" were only rumors.[22]

The Red Cross Society of China sent a team to Yunnan in the morning of 2 March to support the Yunnan Red Cross Society in assisting with rescue efforts and to provide counseling to the relatives of victims and shocked civilians.[23]

On 2 March, armed police patrolled the area around Kunming Railway Station.[24][25] In the early morning, locals put flowers on the square in front of the station to mourn the dead.[26] At 13:00, the Kunming Police disclosed information on two suspects, one woman and one man, according to statements of witnesses.[27]

In the aftermath of the attack, heavy police presence was noted in Dashuying, a low-income ghetto that houses many of Kunming's Uyghurs,[7] and local residents were questioned by police.[28]

Yunnan's Communist Party Secretary Qin Guangrong said on 4 March that he had targeted sufficient resources to help the victims, who would not have to bear medical costs. Emergency services had processed the injured, and compensation arrangements were being discussed.[29] Qin said that the absence of clear threat up to that point meant terrorism prevention had not been a high priority in Yunnan. He admitted to inadequacies in resources, policing and intelligence gathering.[29]

Attackers

On 3 March the Ministry of Public Security announced that police had arrested three suspects and said that an eight-person terrorist group was responsible for the attack,[2][7][30][31] with five direct perpetrators and three others involved only in plotting. The leader of the group was named as Abdurehim Kurban[note 1], one of the assailants killed on scene. Voice of America, a news network owned by the United States government, claimed that there had been scant information from official sources as to the identities, or even evidence that the attackers were Uyghurs.[32]

Qin Guangrong said that the captured wounded suspect had confessed to the crime. He asserted the group started off in Yunnan and originally planned to participate in "jihad" abroad. They allegedly tried unsuccessfully to leave the country from south Yunnan, and also from Guangdong. Unable to do so, they returned to Yunnan, and carried out the attack.[29][32] Anonymous sources from Radio Free Asia, another broadcaster that is under the supervision of the U.S. government, seem to confirm that they were Uyghurs, saying the gang most likely originated from a township in Hotan, Xinjiang, where it was claimed that police had violently suppressed a demonstration against the closure of a mosque and the arrest of its imam in June 2013 that ended in 15 dead and 50 injured.[33] The sources claimed that after witnessing the capture of fellow Uyghurs attempting to flee China into Laos, the group became desperate because of their lack of identity papers along with being on the run from police.[33]

The three people accused of masterminding the attack, Iskandar Ehet, Turgun Tohtunyaz and Hasayn Muhammad, had been arrested on 27 Feb in Shadian, Yunnan, while attempting to illegally cross the border. The surviving assailant suspect, Patigul Tohti, a pregnant woman, and the three men were tried for and convicted of murder and organizing and leading a terrorist organization in the Kunming City Intermediate People's Court. Tohti was sentenced to life in prison, while Ehet, Tohtunyaz, and Muhammad received death sentences, and were executed on 24 March 2015.[34][35]

Reactions

Domestic

After the terrorist attack, Chinese Communist Party (CCP) general secretary Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang assigned Meng Jianzhu, Secretary of the Central Politics and Law Commission, to oversee the investigation.[36] There was some coverage in the regional press; local Kunming Times carried the story on its front page. But the South China Morning Post (SCMP) remarked that the China Central Television evening news programme as well as other national media did not report the attack. Coverage was also scant in the Southern Metropolis Daily in Guangzhou and the Yangtse Evening Post.[37][38][39]

As a result, it became a heavily discussed topic on Chinese social media, where responses ranged from anger and shock to restraint.[40][41][42] Whilst China Daily noted the appeals by netizens to "stop circulating bloody pictures",[43] microblogged and social media-hosted images of the carnage were swiftly deleted by censors.[37][39] Several Sina Weibo users also referred to the incident as our "9-11"; and the CCP-owned tabloid Global Times echoed the sentiment with a headline titled, "Nothing justified civilian slaughter in China's '9-11'".[44][45] Jin Canrong of Renmin University suggested the way forward would be to de-emphasise Uyghur ethnicity and try to instill a greater sense of "Chineseness", stressing equal obligations and rights as Chinese citizens, while Barry Sautman, a China expert at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, suggested widening the preferential policies and granting Xinjiang Uyghurs greater autonomy.[46][47]

The SCMP suggested the attack had taken place at the most politically sensitive time of year, which was on the eve of the second session of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.[37] Lü Xinhua, spokesman for the conference, denounced the attack as a serious violent terrorist attack planned and organized by terrorist elements from Xinjiang.[48] This assertion has been echoed by officials in Kunming.[49]

A Legal Daily video clip that broadcast on CCTV News on 3 March featured an interview with the SWAT marksman who was responsible for shooting five of the attackers and applauded his heroism. The officer said that as the assailants rushed towards him ignoring warning shots fired, he shot the five in about 15 seconds "without thinking".[19] Sautman said that the government may have wanted to "show that there was also successful resistance to terrorists and to put a human face on that resistance."[20]

Western media coverage

Following the event, many major Western media outlets covered the event with the quotation marks around the word "terrorism," some in the article's headline, some in the body, and some in both.[50][51] China accused Western commentators of hypocrisy and double standards on terrorism.[52] Chinese citizens followed that with criticism against the United States government for refusing to identify the attack as a terrorist attack, with some comparing it against the Chinese response to the Boston Marathon bombing.[53]

The People's Daily, the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, accused Western media of ambivalence and failing to state unequivocally that the attack was an act of terrorism, saying, "These media are always the loudest when it comes to anti-terrorism, but in the Kunming train station terrorist violence they lost their voice and spoke confusedly, making people angry," and named American news outlets CNN, The Associated Press, The New York Times and The Washington Post as examples.[39]

CNN removed the quotation marks on 2 March, one day after the event, describing it as "deadly Kunming terror attacks".[54][55]

International

The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Security Council separately condemned the attack.[56][57] Many countries condemned the attack, and expressed their deepest sympathy and condolences.[39][58][59] Dilxat Rexit, a spokesman for the World Uyghur Congress, deplored the attacks, and urged the Chinese government to "ease systematic repression".[60] The Diplomat pointed to use of the comparison to 9–11 as referring not so much to the scale of the attack but the effect that this would have on the nation's psyche, saying "there are hints that it may have a similar effect on the way China conceptualizes and deals with terrorism".[44] An academic at the National University of Singapore warned of a very significant impact of the incident on the Chinese public as the attack took place in the heart of China, and not at the periphery, making the people more inclined to support the adoption of a more hard-line approach towards Xinjiang or Uyghurs, thus accelerating the cycle of repression and violence.[46][47]

Rebiya Kadeer, President of the World Uyghur Congress, called on the Chinese government to rationally handle the attacks and "not to demonize Uighur people as enemies of the state". The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang responded by condemning the WUC as "an anti-China separatist organization", saying that the WUC "cannot represent Uyghur people" and that Kadeer "showed her ulterior political motive by linking the terrorist incidents at Kunming together with a particular ethnic group".[61]

The Daily Telegraph mentioned that this was the first time Uyghurs had been blamed for carrying out an attack of such magnitude outside of Xinjiang.[62] Adjunct professor of Sinology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong Willy Lam said that official figures indicate violent conflicts appear to be on the increase. He suggested the absence of a mechanism for airing grievances and dialogue between the aggrieved and the authorities is contributing to the increase in those resorting to violence.[62] The Analects column of The Economist asserted that although the alleged group leader's name suggests he may be a Uyghur, this would be difficult to verify in a country where media are state-controlled and officials tightly control information flows. It responded to Chinese commentators who criticised outsiders for not immediately accepting official Chinese assertion of an act of politically motivated terrorism by Xinjiang separatists by saying: "But China, which prefers to play down the role of its policies in Xinjiang in generating discontent, has long sought to discredit its Uygur critics by linking them to terrorism".[14] The Economist also mentioned "Chinese oppression in Xinjiang" that "hit at the heart of Uighur identity" as a factor in the escalating violence, including: "students are banned from fasting during Ramadan, religious teaching for children is restricted, and Uighur-language education is limited".[63] Yet according to Dawn, China only discourages fasting for Uygur Muslims and encourages people to eat properly for study and work but authorities "don't force anyone to eat during Ramadan".[64] Rohan Gunaratna, a terrorism expert at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, said there had been intelligence failure. He estimated that "in the last 12 months there have been over 200 attacks [in Xinjiang], maybe even more. It is getting worse".[65]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Abdul Rehim Kurban: Uyghur: ئابدۇرېھىم قۇربان, romanizedAbdurëhim Qurban; Chinese: 阿不都热依木·库尔班; pinyin: Ābùdūrèyīmù·Kù'ěrbān

References

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