Three killed, 79 injured in China station attack

At least three people were confirmed dead and 79 injured in a terrorist attack at a railway station in China's Xinjiang Uygur region Wednesday.

The attack occurred in Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang, at around 7.00 p.m. , with an explosion in the area between the station exit and a bus stop on BRT route 1.

Four people were seriously injured but in stable condition, said the publicity department of the regional committee of China's ruling party, adding that an initial police investigation showed knife-wielding mobs slashed people at the exit of the South Railway Station of Urumqi and set off explosives.

Police cordoned off all entrances to the station square after the blast. People were evacuated and trains were suspended.

The station, however, resumed normal operations at around 9 p.m. as passengers re-entered the waiting halls with the guidance of armed police.

The station is one of the three railway stations in the city, and the largest in Xinjiang.

On March 1, knife-wielding assailants had killed 29 civilians and injured 143 at a railway station in the southwestern Chinese city of Kunming. Evidence linked the attack to separatists from Xinjiang.