Five suicide bombers were responsible for killing 31 in Xinjiang attack: state media
Five suicide bombers blew themselves up in Urumqi on Thursday, causing the deaths of 31 people and wounding a further 94 at an open air market, in an attack blamed on terrorists
Five suicide bombers carried out the attack that killed 31 people in the capital of troubled Xinjiang region, state media reported a day after the deadliest terrorist attack to date in the area.
The incident, which occurred in Urumqi on Thursday morning, was the second suicide attack in the capital in just over three weeks. A bomb and knife attack at an Urumqi train station in late April killed one bystander and wounded 79.
The government blames Islamists and separatists for the worsening violence in Xinjiang, the resource-rich western region bordering central Asia. At least 180 people have been killed in attacks across China.
The attackers ploughed two vehicles into an open market in Urumqi and hurled explosives. Many of the 94 people wounded were elderly shoppers, according to witnesses.
“Five suspects who participated in the violent terrorist attack blew themselves up,” the Global Times, a tabloid run by the People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, reported on Friday.