China's Xi Jinping calls for decisive action after Xinjiang explosion

Urumqi: China's president Xi Jinping has called for ''decisive actions against violent terrorist attacks ''following an explosion and mass stabbing that killed at least three and injured 79 others at a crowded train station in Urumqi, the capital of the restive far-western region of Xinjiang.

Analysts say the brazen attack may have been timed to coincide with the president's high-profile visit to the region. Assailants slashed at passengers and set off explosives at the front of the main exit at Urumqi's South Railway Station shortly after 7pm on Wednesday night, the same day the Chinese president completed his four-day tour of the region.

''The attackers used knives to stab people at the station exit, and detonated explosives at the same time,'' Xinjiang's local government portal said, adding the injured had been taken to hospital. 'The explosion at Urumqi South Railway Station was a serious and violent terrorist attack.'

The site of the bomb blast at the South Railway Station, Urumqi, where three people were killed. Photo: Reuters

President Xi urged ''decisive actions against violent terrorist attacks'' following the incident, which came just after he pledged to better integrate ties between ethnic minorities in the region and to bolster national security at the ''frontline'' of anti-terrorism.

Witnesses told Fairfax Media on Thursday that the explosion was timed with an arrival of a train, as passengers piled through the exits and out into the station's main square.

The station was swarming with a heavily armed police and paramilitary presence on Thursday, with dozens patrolling or standing guard at every corner of the square outside the station, the largest in Xinjiang.

Paramilitary policemen stand guard near the exit of Urumqi's South Railway Station, scene of a bomb and knife attack on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters

Yang Jiancang, a dried fruit and nut vendor at the South Station Market, which overlooks the square, said he heard a loud, powerful blast that shook his stall. He said he saw at least ''three or four'' assailants. ''It was louder than a cannon,'' he said. ''People were running in every direction. It wasn't safe, we packed up our stall straight away and went home.''

Another witness, a food vendor who declined to be named, said he ran out of his shop to get a better look, and said he saw a number of assailants evade arrest and ''get away''.

It was not immediately clear who the attackers were or how many orchestrated the attack, but it was reminiscent of a similar outburst of violence that stunned China in March. A number of witnesses who spoke to Fairfax Media said the attackers were of Uighur appearance.

Tough response: China's President Xi Jinping, seen posing with primary school students in Shufu county, Xinjiang, on April 28, has called for decisive action against terrorist acts. Photo: Reuters

A group of knife-wielding Uighurs slashed at commuters, killing 29, at a train station in Kunming, in the south-western province of Kunming, which was also condemned as a premeditated terrorist attack by the Chinese government.

Xinjiang police did not immediately announce any arrests, or whether any of those killed were perpetrators of the attack.

''The timing of the attack doesn't seem like a coincidence to me,'' said Jim Leibold, a Xinjiang expert based in Beijing. ''While we will have to wait for more details, the attack, if committed by Uighurs, seems aimed at sending a message to Xi and the party that at least some Uighurs aren't buying into his 'China Dream'.

Chen Jieren, a Beijing-based political analyst who tracks developments in Xinjiang, said there was no question the blast had been aimed at sending a message to Mr Xi. ''I believe that after the attackers learned that Xi was in Xinjiang, they would definitely create an incident at any cost in order to prove their existence and capability,'' he told The New York Times.

Xinjiang has been plagued with deadly violence involving members of the Uighur ethnic minority. More than 100 deaths have been reported from the region in the past year, often because of conflict between Uighurs and local police.

In his visit to Xinjiang, which has dominated state media coverage in recent days, Mr Xi has endorsed policies designed to better integrate the Muslim Uighur ethnic minority while warning that China would not tolerate separatist violence.

On a visit to a mosque in Urumqi on Wednesday, Mr Xi said he hoped religious people would continue their patriotic tradition and take a clear stance against extremism. ''The long-term stability of Xinjiang is vital to the whole country's reform, development and stability; to the country's unity, ethnic harmony and national security as well as to the great revival of the Chinese nation,'' Mr Xi said, according to official news agency Xinhua.

Touring a police station in Kashgar on Monday, he said the border region was the ''frontline in anti-terrorism efforts and maintaining social stability'' and urged police officers he met to devise ''effective ways'' to deal with the threat. ''The training must simulate real combat,'' he said. ''Sweat more in peacetime to bleed less in wartime.''

State television reports also showed Mr Xi chatting with locals around a table adorned with traditional Uighur snacks, and wearing the traditional green ''doppa'' headwear favoured by many Uighur men.

Mr Xi has also made regular comments around strengthening national security in what analysts have considered a signal towards a tougher approach to dealing with the recent violence in Xinjiang. ''(We must) make terrorists become like rats scurrying across a street, with everybody shouting 'beat them!' '' he said on at a national security study session on Friday.

The Chinese government consider the spate of violence in Xinjiang to be motivated by Muslim separatists calling for independent rule.

Uighur rights groups conversely say the violence has stemmed from a desperate reaction to worsening discrimination and restrictions on their freedom of religion.

In October, five were killed and dozens injured when three Uighurs ploughed their car into pedestrians and crashed outside Tiananmen Square in Beijing.