2014 Kunming attack
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. 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 captured. Police announced on 3 March that the six-man, two-woman group had been neutralized after the arrest of three remaining suspects.
2014 Kunming attack | |
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Part of the Xinjiang conflict | |
A view of Kunming Railway Station | |
Location | Kunming, Yunnan |
Coordinates | 25°1′3″N 102°43′15″E |
Date | 1 March 2014 21:20 (China Standard Time) |
Target | Passengers of Kunming railway station |
Attack type | Knife attack |
Deaths | 35 (including four perpetrators) |
Injured | 143 |
Perpetrators | Xinjiang separatists |
No. of participants | 8 |
Motive | Islamic extremism |
Convicted | 4 |
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.