International IB Newsletter

Knife Gang

Jesus Hernandez April 2014

 

 

On Saturday, 1 March 2014, there was a bloody attack by 10 assailants at a train station in Kunming, China, in the province of Yunnan. At this point, there are 29 dead and 143 wounded. The assailants entered the Kunming train station at night, dressed in black, and started chopping and slashing at civilians using long knives and machetes. Of the 10 assailants, 4 were fatally shot by responding police forces—bringing the death toll to a total of 33—1 was detained by the Kunming police, and the other 5 are still being searched for, according to Fox News and NPR. The identity of the detained assailant is still unknown to the public, except for the fact that she is female. As a testimony to the severity of the crime, MengJianzhu, Politburo member and China’s top police official, arrived in Kunming on Sunday, 2 March 2014. The Associated Press took an eye-witness account from QiaoYunao, 16, who said, “I was freaking out, and ran to a fast food store, and many people were running in there to take refuge. I saw two attackers, both men, one with a watermelon knife and the other with a fruit knife. They were running and chopping whoever they could”. Although no motive has been officially revealed, some believe that the evidence points to the Uighurs, a small community of Muslim separatists in Xinjiang. The Uighurs have been known to express their hostility towards the Chinese government, and some believe that a more serious Uighur rebellion is simmering, and will eventually explode.

 

However, all of the Uighur’s conflicts have occurred in Xinjiang, which is more than 15,000 kilometers (more than 900 miles) from Kunming. The Kunming police began to round up the small community of Uighurs for questioning on Sunday, March 2nd. However, the community unanimously expressed their confusion, claiming they knew nothing of the attacks or the assailants, according to Fox News. It would seem that the Uighurs are just as disgusted with the terrorist attack as the rest of China. Many residents have expressed their concern, not only for their safety, but for the well-being and separation of the Uighurs.Sean Roberts, a cultural anthropologist and scholar in the Uighurs and China, doubts whether the Uighurs were involved at all. Roberts argues that the “Kunming violence would be a new kind of attack for ethnic Uighurs—premeditated, well-organized and outside Xinjiang—but still rudimentary in weaponry”.

 

All in all, if the Uighurs are not to blame, then the culprits are obviously still unknown. However, if the Uighurs are responsible for this terrorist attack, then, according to Xi’s government, they will suffer the full extent of the law. Furthermore, if indeed the Uighurs are responsible, then this attack may be the next step leading up to a larger, bloodier, more passionate Uighur rebellion.