2014 Kunming attack

On the evening of 1 March 2014, at 21:12, a group of five individuals dressed in black and armed with knives and cleavers rushed into the waiting area of Kunming Railway Station in Kunming, Yunnan, China, and attacked passengers indiscriminately. The attackers moved through the station square, ticket areas, and baggage storage area, stabbing and slashing people at random. Hundreds of bystanders sheltered in nearby businesses, a post office, a restaurant, and restrooms during the attack. Railway and traffic police, armed only with batons, confronted the attackers and were injured while attempting to push them out of the station; the confrontation and pursuit lasted around twelve minutes before the attackers fled onto Zhanqian Road.

A SWAT team from the Guandu branch of the Kunming Municipal Public Security Bureau arrived within about ten minutes of the attack's start. Around 21:35, police surrounded the five attackers at an intersection; after tear gas failed to subdue them, a marksman shot five of the attackers in rapid succession after firing warning shots, killing four. A wounded female suspect was detained and taken to a hospital. Police announced on 3 March that three additional suspects had been arrested, bringing the number directly implicated at that point to eight, five of whom were the direct attackers.

The attack killed 31 people and injured 143, including seven police officers. Two security guards were killed while attempting to subdue the attackers. The wounded were transported by public bus and treated at 11 hospitals in Kunming. The Red Cross Society of China sent a team to assist with rescue efforts and counseling. Yunnan's Communist Party Secretary Qin Guangrong said victims would not bear medical costs and acknowledged inadequacies in resources, policing, and intelligence gathering.

Authorities named the five direct attackers as Abdurehim Kurban, Ahmat Abiti, Mangshar Shartar, Almira Tursun, and Patigul Tohti, with Kurban identified as leader and Tohti, who was pregnant, the sole survivor. Three others—Iskandar Ehet, Turgun Tohtunyaz, and Hasayn Muhammad—were arrested on 27 February 2014 in Shadian while attempting to cross the border illegally, and were accused of masterminding the attack. Chinese officials said the group of thirteen was founded in December 2013 with the goal of engaging in jihad abroad. Patigul Tohti and the three accused masterminds were tried and convicted of murder and organizing and leading a terrorist organization at the Kunming City Intermediate People's Court. Tohti received a life sentence, while Ehet, Tohtunyaz, and Muhammad were sentenced to death and executed on 24 March 2015. Five others were tried separately as part of the group.

The attack drew condemnation from the UN Secretary-General and Security Council, and prompted widespread domestic and international reaction, including debate over Western media's use of quotation marks around the word "terrorism." Chinese authorities said the attack was linked to Xinjiang separatists, citing an East Turkestan flag found at the scene.