Beijing: Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday vowed to deliver a "crushing blow" to Islamic militants in the troubled Xinjiang province after the deadly attack in Urumqi that killed three people and injured 79 others which police said was carried out by two suspected suicide bombers.
Providing the first detailed account of the attack at the Urumqi railway station in which the militants first slashed people and later blew up the place with explosives, Chinese police said the two suspects along with a civilian were killed in the incident and 79 others were injured.
Yesterday's attack came two months after a group of militants from Xinjiang, stated to be members of the banned East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) carried out knife attacks at a railway station in Kunming in which 33 people were killed and 143 injured.
This is the first time that militants used high powered explosives in addition to the knife attacks, a regular feature of a number of previous attacks.
An investigation identified one of the two suspects as Sedirdin Sawut, a 39-year-old man from Xayar County, Aksu in southern Xinjiang.
He along with the unidentified person were involved in religious extremism, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
They first stabbed people with knives and set off explosives at the exit of Urumqi south railway station around 7 PM last night. Both the two suspects were killed by the explosion.
A civilian also died and 79 others were injured in the attack, police said.
Some of the injured have been discharged from hospital and normality has been restored in the area.
The attack marred China's Labour Day celebrations today.
Security was tightened at South Urumqi with increased armed police.
Dozens of armoured vehicles were stationed at entrances to the largest railway station in Urumqi with hundreds of gun or shield-wielding officers patrolling the railway complex.
"Some people were chopping others with their knives, and then came the sound of the explosion, which was deafening," an eyewitness told South China Morning Post.
Xi, who wound up his four-day visit to Xinjiang, said the militants would be dealt a crushing blow and "decisive actions" against violent terrorist attacks would be initiated with a "strike-first" strategy.