China attack witnesses: Knife-wielding men at station

As eyewitness accounts of the terror attack at a train station in China recounted the horror of the late night tragedy perpetrated by knife-wielding men dressed in black, there was widespread anger and some panic across the city of Kunming. Kunming Railway Station, located in the southeast of the city, is one of the largest stations in southwest China. [caption id=“attachment_138598” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image[/caption] According to reports, a hotel worker in the city told the Sunday Morning Post she heard the rumour that “people are rushing towards our hotel. We heard that the attackers are dressed in black, and they are Uyghurs”. Although the police said they shot dead the assailants she said the city was in panic and a number of police officers were also injured. “Our guests who walked past the train station told us not to leave the hotel because the situation is dangerous. We dare not leave the hotel right now. There are many police outside. We just fear that not all the attackers have been caught,” she said. The incident has also fuelled massive anger among people across China, with netizens severely condemning the violent attacks on social websites like Sina Weibo and popular instant messaging service, WeChat. As of midnight more than 60 victims in the attack have been sent to hospital, emergency registration records showed, the report said. Yang Haifei, a local resident of Yunnan who was attacked and sustained injuries on his chest and back, said he saw a group of people rush into the station with black uniforms and start attacking others as he was buying his ticket. “I saw a person come straight at me with a long knife and I ran away with everyone,” he said, adding that people who were slower were severely injured. “They just fell on the ground,” he said. At the guard pavilion in front of the station, three victims were crying. One of them, a woman named Yang Ziqing told Xinhua that they were waiting in the station square for a train to Shanghai, but had to escape when a knife-wielding man suddenly came at them. “My two town-fellows’ husbands have been rushed to hospital, but I can’t find my husband, and his phone went unanswered,” Yang sobbed. Pictures on Weibo showed local police patrolling the station with bodies in blood lying on the ground. Doctors were transporting the injured to a local hospital. Another post on Weibo by a passenger present at the station said she was dining in a nearby restaurant when the attack took place. She said she was “scared to death,” seeing a group of men in black with two long knives chasing people. The attack comes ahead of the meeting of the Chinese parliament next week. Agencies.