In the second violent attack in Urumqi in a month, two cars crashed into a market, one of which exploded, while assailants in the cars detonated explosives, according to reports. Xinhua reports that 31 people were killed:
31 DEAD, MORE THAN 90 INJURED in Urumqi market explosions #XinjiangExplosion
— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) May 22, 2014
Xinhua said the assailants plowed through crowds of shoppers in off-road vehicles and threw explosives out the window before crashing head-on in the early morning attack in the city of Urumqi. It said one of the vehicles then exploded and quoted an eyewitness as saying there had been up to a dozen blasts in all.
A statement from the Xinjiang regional government said the attack occurred at 7:50 a.m. and people had been killed and injured, but gave no further details.
“I heard four or five explosions. I was very scared. I saw three or four people lying on the ground,” said Fang Shaoying, the owner of a small supermarket located near the scene of the blast.
And Reuters has more on the government’s response:
State media had earlier reported that two vehicles rammed into a crowd of people at a morning market in the city of Urumqi. Explosives were hurled from the vehicles, and one of the vehicles exploded.
Domestic security chief Meng Jianzhu vowed to “destroy the arrogance of violent terrorists”, the statement said.
Public Security authorities have taken emergency measures, the statement added. Authorities have not published a number of casualties.
From earlier People’s Daily tweets, before the death toll was announced:
#Xinjiang blast: Explosion occurred at around 8am on 22nd near a park in Urumqi. Causalities unknown pic.twitter.com/uyqhaZBLcL
— People's Daily,China (@PDChina) May 22, 2014
#Xinjiang blast: two burned cars being tolled away from the scene. Traffic nearby the scene has returned to normal pic.twitter.com/QFU6teehSo
— People's Daily,China (@PDChina) May 22, 2014
#Xinjiang blast: Police cordoned off the scene after the explosion that has killed unknown number of people on May 22 pic.twitter.com/lZQRIAOC8C
— People's Daily,China (@PDChina) May 22, 2014
Meanwhile on Wednesday, 39 people were sentenced in Xinjiang on terrorism charges.