Three executed in China for terror attack

Three men were executed on Tuesday for leading a terror attack that killed 31 people at a railway station in China last year.

Iskandar Ehet, Turgun Tohtunyaz and Hasayn Muhammad were executed upon approval by the Supreme People's Court, Xinhua reported. The executions took place in Kunming, capital of the southwestern province of Yunnan.

The three were convicted and sentenced to death in September 2014 after being found guilty of organising and leading a terrorist organisation as well as murder.

A group of men armed with knives randomly attacked civilians at the railway station, causing 31 deaths and injuring 141 on March 1, 2014. Police shot dead four of the attackers and wounded and captured a female suspect.

The female assailant, Patigul Tohti, who was pregnant when arrested, has been sentenced to life.

Investigators found that the three men had been training recruits for terrorist activities, including the attack at the Kunming railway station, since December 2013.

China has been facing growing threats from terrorism in recent years.

Three people were killed and 39 injured when a sports utility vehicle ploughed into a crowd near Tiananmen Square in the heart of Beijing on October 28, 2013.

In a more recent case, 40 rioters died in a series of planned bomb attacks in Luntai county in China's northwestern Xinjiang region on September 21, 2014. Six civilians were killed and dozens injured in the attacks.