Police find East Turkestan flags at railway station
Print Edition
POLICE have captured three terrorist suspects following the railway station attack that killed at least 29 people and injured 143 others.
“Three suspects involved in the terrorist attack in the southwestern city of Kunming had been captured,” the Ministry of Public Security said.
Eight members of a terrorist gang carried out the stabbing spree on Saturday night, the ministry said. Four were shot dead by police and a wounded woman was detained at the scene, it said, naming their leader as Abdurehim Kurban.
Separatists from the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region staged the act of terror, the Kunming government said, as Xinhua news agency called the attack “China’s 9/11” in a commentary.
With 20 of the 143 injured still in a critical condition, Kunming residents have queued to donate blood for the victims. More than 2,000 locals donated 560,000 milliliters of blood on Sunday.
The US was accused of double standards, after Washington condemned the attack but refrained from calling it a terrorist incident.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters yesterday that “some East Turkestan flags had been found at the scene.”
Hong Kong broadcaster Phoenix TV showed images of a dark blue flag embroidered with the Islamic declaration of faith, said to have been found by police at the railway station.
The “East Turkestan” forces, among which the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) is a major group, are one of the major and direct reasons for increasing terrorist attacks in China, particularly in Xinjiang, officials said.
The ETIM, listed by the United Nations as a terrorist group, claimed responsibility for the Tian’anmen attack in Bejing in October in which five people were killed and 40 others injured.
The Kunming attack, which prompted shock and outrage across the country and throughout the world, led to tightened security at transport terminals across China.
Police maintained a prominent presence on the streets of the city, two days after the gang of terrorists slashed indiscriminately at people queueing up to buy tickets at the busy railway terminal.
Armed guards remained on duty at the station yesterday, although the temporary waiting area that was sealed off on Sunday had reopened to the public.
Outside the large open shelter where the carnage began, people laid flowers and wreaths around a few dozen burnt-out candles left over from a vigil on Sunday night. Plainclothes security officers patrolled the area.
Three kilometers away in Kunming’s eastern suburbs, around 50 people queued to give blood at a temporary donation center yesterday.
“I came here to donate blood ... because these terrorists are too cruel as they inflicted too much pain on the common people,” said first-time donor Hu Jiaquan, 35, as he waited in line.
“All citizens should use their own strength to defeat these extremists,” he added.
Another donor, Yin Jiang, said: “They are so cruel that they took action against the elderly, women and children.”
Online, the US Embassy in China said it condemned the “terrible and senseless act of violence in Kunming” and expressed condolences to those affected by what it called a “tragedy.”
But thousands of Chinese Internet users slammed the US for refusing to define the attack as terrorism, comparing the knifings to last year’s bombing of the Boston Marathon as well as to 9/11.
“Would Americans say the same thing about similar attacks on their own territory?” Ma Xiaolin, a website administrator, asked on Sina Weibo.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
