Home Tags Posts tagged with "kunming"

kunming

Armed police patrol vehicles have been deployed in Beijing following three attacks at transport hubs around the country.

The 150 vehicles are tasked with “countering street terrorism and fighting severe violence”, state-run Xinhua news agency said.

Petrol purchases would also be tightened, with buyers required to register with police, reports said.

Armed police patrol vehicles have been deployed in Beijing following three attacks at transport hubs around the country

Armed police patrol vehicles have been deployed in Beijing following three attacks at transport hubs around the country

The move follows station attacks in Kunming, Urumqi and Guangzhou, and comes before the Tiananmen anniversary.

Xinhua agency said the armed police patrols would be stationed at major road junctions and manned by at least nine police officers and other assistants.

They would cover an area of 1.8 miles and would be required to respond within three minutes, Xinhua added.

Meanwhile, those buying petrol would have to explain their intentions in a move that aimed to prevent the use of gasoline “to create disturbances”, People’s Daily newspaper said.

The security upgrade comes amid heightened concern over security after the three station attacks.

March’s group knife attack in Kunming left 29 people dead and more than 100 wounded. A similar attack in Urumqi in April left three people dead and almost 80 injured.

Chinese authorities have blamed both attacks on separatists from the Muslim Uighur minority group, which lives in Xinjiang.

It is not yet clear what sparked an attack last week at Guangzhou station in which six people were hurt. One man is reported to be in custody.

In October 2013, meanwhile, five people died and dozens were injured after a car drove into a crowd near Tiananmen Square and burst into flames.

Officials said three of those who died – the occupants of the car – came from the Uighur minority group.

The Uighurs, who are ethnically Turkic Muslims, say that large-scale Han Chinese immigration into Xinjiang has eroded their traditional culture and accuse Beijing of oppressive control.

The boost in security in Beijing also comes three weeks ahead of the 25th anniversary of the crackdown on anti-government protesters at Tiananmen Square.

Several well-known activists, including journalist Gao Yu, have been detained ahead of the anniversary.

Chinese police captured three suspects involved in Saturday’s deadly mass knife attack at Kunming railway station, state media report.

Several men and women burst into the south-western city’s railway station stabbing people at random, leaving 29 dead and wounding more than 130.

Officials have blamed separatists from the Xinjiang region for the attack.

Four attackers were shot dead by police at the scene, officials say. An injured female suspect was reportedly detained.

Citing a statement from the Ministry of Public Security, Xinhua news agency said six men and two women, led by a person identified as Abdurehim Kurban, were responsible for the attack.

There were no details about how the suspects were identified and captured.

Chinese police captured three suspects involved in Saturday's deadly mass knife attack at Kunming railway station

Chinese police captured three suspects involved in Saturday’s deadly mass knife attack at Kunming railway station

Officials say that evidence, such as insignia recovered from the station about “East Turkestan”, points to the involvement of separatists from Xinjiang – a region in the far west of China bordering Central Asia.

China’s security chief, Meng Jianzhu, has vowed “all-out efforts” to “severely punish terrorists”.

Eyewitnesses described horrific scenes on Saturday, saying that in just 12 minutes attackers used curved swords and meat cleavers to stab people at random as they rampaged through the station.

A memorial for the victims has been set up at Kunming station’s concourse

Kunming is the capital of China’s Yunnan province. On Monday, security was tight, with a heavy police presence at Kunming station and surrounding areas.

Xinjiang is home to the Muslim Uighur minority group. Recent months have seen several violent incidents there which the government has blamed on extremists. Verifying these reports is difficult because foreign journalists’ access to the region is tightly controlled.

China is often accused of exaggerating the threat of Islamist terrorism to justify its harsh security crackdown in Xinjiang and the restrictions it places on the religion and culture of the Uighurs.

[youtube L8FKOLlcWsY 650]

Chinese separatists Uighur Muslims from the north-western Xinjiang region are blamed for the mass knife attack at Kunming railway station that left 29 people dead and at least 130 wounded, officials said.

A group of attackers, dressed in black, burst into the station in the south-west city of Kunming and began stabbing people at random.

Images from the scene posted online showed bodies lying in pools of blood.

State news agency Xinhua said police shot at least four suspects dead.

A female suspect was arrested and is being treated in hospital for unspecified injuries while a search continues for others who fled the scene.

Authorities described the incident as an “organized, premeditated, violent terrorist attack”.

The Kunming city government later said that evidence from the scene pointed to separatists from Xinjiang as being behind the attack.

It gave no details and the claim could not be verified.

Chinese separatists Uighur Muslims are blamed for the mass knife attack at Kunming railway station

Chinese separatists Uighur Muslims are blamed for the mass knife attack at Kunming railway station

Some of Xinjiang’s minority Uighur Muslims want autonomy from Chinese rule and an end to state suppression of their religion.

Witnesses in Kunming said those who couldn’t run quickly were cut down by the attackers’ knives.

A survivor named Yang Haifei, who was wounded in the back and chest, told Xinhua he had been buying a train ticket when the attackers rushed into the station.

“I saw a person come straight at me with a long knife and I ran away with everyone,” he said.

First reports said the attackers were only men, but witnesses and police later said the group also included women.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and PM Li Keqiang sent condolences to the victims and their families.

President Xi Jinping urged “all-out efforts” to investigate the attack.

“Severely punish in accordance with the law the violent terrorists and resolutely crack down on those who have been swollen with arrogance,” Xinhua quoted the president as saying.

The incident comes a few days before the opening of China’s annual parliamentary session, the National People’s Congress.

[youtube 0IfTBtLwuYs 650]

At least 27 people died in a knife attack at a train station in Kunming, south-west China, the state news agency Xinhua says.

Nothing is known so far about the motivation behind the attack, in which 109 people are said to have been hurt.

Xinhua gave few further details, and the men responsible have not been identified.

At least 27 people died in the knife attack at Kunming train station

At least 27 people died in the knife attack at Kunming train station

A local television station said several of the attackers had been shot by police, according to Associated Press.

Chinese state television described the incident as a “violent terror attack”.

Eyewitnesses said that the men started attacking people at random.

Social media users in China have been posting pictures of the attack on the internet, but correspondents say they are being taken down.

Mass stabbings are not uncommon in China, but none have been recently reported on this scale.

[youtube c1u50_BWSTo 650]