April 2014 Ürümqi attack

Terrorist attack by Uighur separatists in Ürümqi, Xinjiang, China

April 2014 Ürümqi attack

A view of Ürümqi South Railway Station

Location| Ürümqi, Xinjiang, China
Date| 30 April 2014
7:10 pm (China Standard Time)
Target| Ürümqi Railway Station

Attack type

| Suicide bombing; knife attack
Deaths| 1
Injured| 79
Perpetrators| Turkestan Islamic Party
Motive| Islamic extremism

For the attack that occurred the following month, see May 2014 Ürümqi attack.

* v
* t
* e

Xinjiang conflict

1930–1989

* Xinjiang Wars
* Kazakh exodus
* Yi–Ta incident

1989–2006

* Ürümqi (1989)
* Barin (1990)
* Ürümqi (1992)
* Gulja (1997)
* Ürümqi (1997)

2007–present

* Akto County raid (2007)
* Qaraqash County unrest (2008)
* Kashgar (2008)
* Shaoguan Incident (2009)
* Ürümqi (2009)
* Xinjiang (2009)
* Aksu (2010)
* Hotan (2011)
* Kashgar (2011)
* Pishan (2011)
* Yecheng (2012)
* Tianjin Airlines Flight 7554
* Korla (2013)
* Bachu (2013)
* Shanshan (2013)
* Tiananmen (2013)
* Xinhe (2014)
* Kunming (2014)
* China–Vietnam border (2014)
* Ürümqi south railway station (2014)
* Ürümqi market (2014)
* Yarkant (2014)
* Juma Tayir assassination (2014)
* Luntai (2014)
* Bangkok (2015)
* Aksu (2015)
* Chinese Embassy in Bishkek (2016)
* Xinjiang internment camps
* Persecution of Uyghurs in China

On 30 April 2014, a bomb-and-knife attack occurred in the Chinese city of Ürümqi, Xinjiang. The terrorist attack killed 3 people, and injured 79 others. The attack coincided with the conclusion of a visit by Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party to the region.[1]

At approximately 7:10 pm local time, a pair of assailants attacked passengers with knives and detonated explosives at the city's railway station.[2][3] Police closed off all entrances to the station in the immediate aftermath of the attack, but it was reopened at 9 pm with increased security. The number of perpetrators involved in the attack is unknown,[4] but 2 individuals are suspected.[5] The Turkestan Islamic Party claimed responsibility.[6]

## Background

[edit]

Main article: Xinjiang conflict

The attack occurred on the final day of Xi Jinping's 4-day tour of the region.[4] A day prior, he labelled Xinjiang the "front line against terrorism" during a visit to the nearby city of Kashgar, and vowed to take a hardline against terrorism and violence attributed to Muslim Uyghur separatists, which killed at least 100 people over the past year.[7] It is not known if Xi was still in the province when the attack took place.[4] On the morning of the attack, he visited a mosque – located 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) away from the railway station – and urged religious leaders to foster harmony among the people in Xinjiang by giving followers a better understanding of religious teachings.[2]

## Attack

[edit]

The blast damaged the billboard located southwest of the South Railway Station. After the South Railway Station blast, security checkpoints were constructed on the square in front of the South Railway Station after 26 May. This image shows the No.1 security checkpoint at South Railway Station.

At 7:10 pm local time on 30 April 2014,[1] a group of individuals used knives to attack passengers and detonated bombs at the exit of Ürümqi South Station.[2] Originally, it was thought that the explosives came from luggage situated between the station and the bus stop outside,[8] but the People's Daily stated that the attackers had "set off bombs tied on their bodies and died."[9] The scope of the blast was also disputed. While one worker at a nearby hostel had reportedly mistaken the explosion for an earthquake,[10][11] another eyewitness noted how the bomb appeared to be "home made, as the blast was not massive."[2] Initially, the attack was said to have injured fifty people, but state news media revised the figures the next morning to three killed and seventy-nine injured.[4]

It was reported that the attack was carried out by two religiously motivated suicide bombers.[12] One of them was identified as Sedierding Shawuti, a 39-year-old Uyghur from Xayar County, Aksu in Southern Xinjiang.[9][13] According to an anti-terrorist intelligence service, a group named Turkestan Islamic Party has claimed responsibility for the attack.[6]

## Initial response

[edit]

After the attack, "security forces moved quickly" to the station, and later paramilitary and riot[5] police were stationed on its various entrances.[1][2][14] Casualties were taken to the hospital in ambulances, but taxis were also commandeered to compensate for a lack of ambulance availability and to ensure the swift treatment of injuries.[5] According to Xinhua News Agency, the area around the station was evacuated by security forces.[15] The bombing meant that the rail services ceased for about two hours, and ensuing this attack nearby shops repaired minor damage and tightened security.[5]

There was an overnight cordon around the train station,[5] which was lifted at 9:00 pm,[16] amid heavier police security.[4]

Many internet posts regarding the attack were rapidly censored by the Chinese government. Sina Weibo, the country's largest microblogging site, took down comments and photos pertaining to the explosion,[1] which had come through within an hour on their "Breaking News" account. It did not make any further updates for two hours.[17]

## Reactions

[edit]

Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping responded to the incident by promising "decisive actions [against] terrorist attacks"[14] and stated that a "strike-first" strategy would be implemented.[10] He also called on government officials in the region to do everything they could to ensure that the injured were assisted, the crime investigated and the perpetrators punished severely.[2]

Search engine Baidu prevented certain results from appearing when searching for terms related to the attack – citing "relevant legal rules and policies"[18] – while Chinese news media simply duplicated the report by Xinhua News Agency, which is required of them when reporting on sensitive topics.[18]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d "Deadly China blast at Xinjiang railway station". BBC News. BBC. 30 April 2014. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
2. ^ a b c d e f Li, Jing (30 April 2014). "Security tightened after three killed in bomb, knife attack at Urumqi train station". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 1 May 2014. (subscription required)
3. ^ urumqi wogzaldiki partiltix jihadi uyghur mujahid turkistan. Mustafa Turkistani. 7 May 2014.
4. ^ a b c d e Forsythe, Michael (30 April 2014). "Assailants Attack Train Station in Restive Western China". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
5. ^ a b c d e "Extremists 'bombed China station'". MSN. 1 May 2014. Archived from the original on 3 May 2014. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
6. ^ a b "Turkestan Islamic Party claims Chinese railway station attack". news.biharprabha.com. Indo-Asian News Service. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
7. ^ Zhang, Hong (29 April 2014). "President Xi Jinping delivers tough message to 'frontline of terror' on visit to Xinjiang". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 1 May 2014. (subscription required)
8. ^ Wen, Philip (1 May 2014). "Fatal bomb and knife attack at China's Xinjiang railway station". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
9. ^ a b Wan, Adrian; Ng, Teddy (1 May 2014). "Urumqi bombing was suicide attack by 'religious extremists'". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 2 May 2014. (subscription required)
10. ^ a b Beech, Hannah (30 April 2014). "In China, Deadly Bomb and Knife Attack Rocks Xinjiang Capital". Time. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
11. ^ Makinen, Julie (30 April 2014). "Blast hits Chinese city in region visited by Xi; 3 reported dead". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2 May 2014.
12. ^ Wong, Gillian (1 May 2014). "China points to suicide blast in Urumqi attack". Bloomsberg Business Week. Archived from the original on 1 May 2014. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
13. ^ Michael Martina (1 May 2014). "China blames religious extremists for station bombing". Reuters. Retrieved 27 April 2020. "It identified one of them as Sedierding Shawuti, a 39-year-old man from Xayar county in Xinjiang's Aksu region. The man is a member of the Muslim Uighur minority, judging by his name."
14. ^ a b "Xinjiang station attack: President Xi Jinping urges action". BBC News. BBC. 1 May 2014. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
15. ^ Phillips, Tom (30 April 2014). "Explosion in China railway during presidential visit kills three". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
16. ^ "China's Xi orders crackdown after Xinjiang stabbing spree". Channel NewsAsia. 1 May 2014. Archived from the original on 1 May 2014. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
17. ^ Chen, Andrea (1 May 2014). "Breaking news alerts on Urumqi attack 'censored' on Weibo". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
18. ^ a b Tatlow, Didi Kirsten (1 May 2014). "Online, a Censored Reaction to Urumqi Bombing". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 May 2014.

* v
* t
* e

Anti-Chinese sentiment (Sinophobia)

Background|

* Anti-Han sentiment
* Coolie
* Yellow Peril
* Chinese emigration
* The Unparalleled Invasion
* Japanese nationalism
* Minzoku
* De-Sinicization

By persecutor|

* Adriaan Valckenier
* Andrew Jackson Bryant
* Denis Kearney
* Hideki Tojo
* Suharto
* Pol Pot
* Plaek Phibunsongkhram

By country|

* Hong Kong
* India
* Indonesia
* Japan
* Racism in Japan
* Korea
* Malaysia
* Racism in Malaysia
* Ketuanan Melayu
* Myanmar
* Nazi Germany
* Philippines
* Singapore
* Taiwan
* Thailand
* United States
* China Initiative
* Vietnam

By institution|

* Anti-Chinese Union
* Asiatic Exclusion League
* Canadian Brotherhood of Railway Employees
* Tsagaan Khas
* Uyoku dantai

By incident|

| 17th century|

* Sangley Rebellion (1603)
* Sangley Rebellion (1639)
* Sangley Massacre (1662)

|

18th century|

* 1740 Batavia massacre
* 1782 Saigon massacre

19th century|

* Buckland riot (1857)
* Lambing Flat riots (1860–1861)
* Anti-Coolie Act (1862)
* Los Angeles Chinese massacre of 1871
* Pigtail Ordinance (1873)
* Page Act of 1875
* Trout Creek Outrage (1876)
* San Francisco riot of 1877
* New Zealand head tax (1881–1944)
* Chinese Exclusion Act (1882–1943)
* Royal Commission on Chinese Immigration (1885)
* Chinese Immigration Act, 1885
* Attack on Squak Valley Chinese laborers, 1885
* Tacoma riot of 1885
* Rock Springs massacre (1885)
* 1885 Chinese expulsion from Eureka
* Chinese head tax (1885–1923)
* Seattle riot of 1886
* 1886 Vancouver anti-Chinese riots
* Hells Canyon massacre (1887)
* Scott Act (1888)
* Geary Act (1892–1943)
* Union Colliery Co of British Columbia v Bryden (1899)

20th century|

* White Australia policy (1901–1973)
* 1907 Vancouver anti-Asian riots
* Beipu uprising (1907)
* Torreón massacre (1911)
* 1918 Kudus riot
* Soviet deportations of Chinese people (1920s–1930s)
* Chinese Immigration Act, 1923
* Wanpaoshan Incident (1931)
* Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945)
* Nanjing Massacre (1937–1938)
* Nanshitou massacre (1942–1945)
* Japanese war crimes
* Three Alls policy
* Sook Ching (1942)
* Changjiao massacre (1943)
* Home Office 213/926 (1945–1946)
* Bersiap (1945–1947)
* Mergosono massacre (1947)
* Legislation on Chinese Indonesians (1950s-)
* Chinese Confession Program (1956–1965)
* Internment of Chinese Indians (1962)
* 1964 race riots in Singapore
* Indonesian mass killings of 1965–66
* 1967 anti-Chinese riots in Burma
* Monosodium glutamate controversy (Chinese restaurant syndrome)
* 13 May incident (1969)
* 1969 race riots of Singapore
* Malari incident (1974)
* Cambodian genocide (1975–1979)
* 1997 Banjarmasin riot
* May 1998 riots of Indonesia

21st century|

* 2006 Nukuʻalofa riots
* Abacus Bank prosecution
* 2008 Kunming bus bombings
* July 2009 Ürümqi riots
* 2011 Kashgar attacks
* Wolf Amendment
* 2013 Tiananmen Square attack
* 2014 Vietnam anti-China protests
* 2014 Kunming attack
* April 2014 Ürümqi attack
* May 2014 Ürümqi attack
* 2015 Plaza Low Yat riot
* 2015 Aksu colliery attack
* China–United States trade war
* Trump tariffs
* first
* second
* Artificial Intelligence Cold War
* China Initiative
* COVID-19 pandemic incidents
* 2021 Atlanta spa shootings
* 2021 Solomon Islands unrest
* 2024 Papua New Guinean unrest
* Boycotts of Chinese products

By victim|

| 19th century|

* Chae Chan Ping
* Fong Yue Ting
* Mary Tape
* Wong Kim Ark
* Yick Wo

|

20th century|

* Vincent Chin
* Ita Martadinata Haryono
* Qian Xuesen
* Velma Demerson
* Wen Ho Lee

21st century|

* Anming Hu
* Danny Chen
* Ee Lee
* Eileen Gu
* Feng "Franklin" Tao
* Gang Chen
* Haoyang Yu
* Jiansheng Chen
* Jiayang Fan
* Lee Chi-cheung
* Mi Gao Huang Chen
* Sherry Chen
* Teoh Beng Hock
* Xiaoxing Xi
* Yao Pan Ma
* Michelle Go

Slurs|

* Chinaman
* Chinaman's chance
* Chinese, Japanese, dirty knees
* Ching chong
* Chink
* Locust/Wongchung
* Shina/Zhina
* Sick man of Asia

Related|

* Anti-People's Republic of China
* Chinese imperialism
* Anti-Taiwanese sentiment
* Hong Kong nationalism

* v
* t
* e

Xinjiang topics

Ürümqi (capital)

History|

| Pre-Han dynasty|

* Tocharians
* Western Regions
* Loulan
* Shule
* Yuezhi
* Kucha
* Karasahr
* Xiongnu
* Gaochang
* Khotan

|

Han dynasty|

* Protectorate of the Western Regions
* Chief Official of the Western Regions
* Kingdom of Khotan
* Sixteen Kingdoms
* Gaochang
* Göktürks
* First
* Western
* Eastern
* Second

Tang dynasty|

* Protectorate General to Pacify the West
* Four Garrisons of Anxi
* Beiting Protectorate
* Tibetan Empire
* Uyghur Khaganate
* Qocho
* Kara-Khanid Khanate
* Turkic settlement of the Tarim Basin
* Qara Khitai

Yuan dynasty|

* Mongol Empire
* * Chagatai Khanate
* Moghulistan
* Kara Del
* Turpan Khanate
* Yarkent Khanate
* Dzungar Khanate
* Dzungar conquest of Altishahr
* Dzungar–Qing Wars
* Dzungar genocide
* Kumul Khanate

Qing dynasty|

* Qing rule
* Revolt of the Altishahr Khojas
* Afaqi Khoja revolts
* Holy War of the Seven Khojas
* General of Ili
* Reconquest of Xinjiang

Republic of China|

* Xinjiang Wars
* First East Turkestan Republic
* Second East Turkestan Republic
* Ili Rebellion

PR China|

* PRC incorporation

Geography|

| "Three Mountains and Two Basins"|

* Altai Mountains
* Junggar Basin
* Dzungaria
* Tian Shan
* Tarim Basin
* Taklamakan Desert
* Kunlun Mountains

|

Other Landscapes|

* Cities
* Gurbantünggüt Desert
* Kumtag Desert
* Turpan Depression
* Karakoram Mountains
* Pamir Mountains

Transportation|

* Hexi Corridor
* Lanzhou–Xinjiang railway
* Lanzhou–Xinjiang high-speed railway
* Southern Xinjiang railway
* Northern Xinjiang railway
* Jinghe–Yining–Khorgos railway
* Kuytun–Beitun railway
* Ürümqi–Dzungaria railway
* Hami–Lop Nur railway
* Kashgar–Hotan railway
* China Railway Ürümqi Group

Education
Research|

* Xinjiang University
* Xinjiang Agricultural University
* Xinjiang Medical University
* Xinjiang University of Finance and Economics
* Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory

Culture|

* Doppa Festival
* Music
* Meshrep gathering
* Muqam
* Tocharian clothing

Cuisine|

* Dapanji
* Nan
* Sangza
* Samsa
* Youtazi
* Pamirdin
* Xurpa
* Tunurkawab
* Chinese Islamic cuisine

Economy|

* Silk Road
* China Western Development
* Cotton industry
* National Cotton and Cotton Yarn Trading Center
* Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps
* Xinjiang Free-Trade Zone

Visitor attractions|

* Apak Khoja and Xiang Fei Tomb
* Flaming Mountains
* Jiaohe ruins
* Gaochang
* Grand Bazaar, Ürümqi
* Id Kah Mosque
* Karakul Lake
* Kizil Caves
* Niya ruins

Related|

* Uyghur people
* Xinjiang conflict
* Migration to Xinjiang
* Altishahr
* Chinese Turkestan
* East Turkestan
* East Turkistan Government in Exile
* East Turkistan National Awakening Movement
* China–Afghanistan relations
* China–India relations
* China–Kazakhstan relations
* China–Kyrgyzstan relations
* China–Pakistan relations
* China–Tajikistan relations
* China–Turkey relations
* History of the Uyghur people
* Strike Hard Campaign Against Violent Terrorism

* Category
* Commons

Portal:

* China

43°46′44″N 87°34′59″E﻿ / ﻿43.7789°N 87.5831°E﻿ / 43.7789; 87.5831
*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template