Zach ToombsA group of men brandishing long knives killed at least 28 people in a southern Chinese train station late Saturday.
Xinhua has been the main source of information for Western media since the attack. The state news agency reports 109 people were injured and 28 killed when several men dressed in black ran through a station in Kunming, China slashing at people with knives.
Details on the attack are scarce. A witness named Yang Haifei tells Xinhua: "'I saw a person come straight at me with a long knife and I ran away with everyone,' ... adding that people who were slower were severely injured."
Kunming is the capital of China's Yunnan province. The city itself is home to about 3.5 million people, almost the size of Los Angeles. The Yunnan province borders Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar. (Via Google)
Witnesses say police and guards at the station shot several of the attackers but apprehended some of them alive. There's no word on a motive behind the attack, though China's government did call it a terrorist act. (Via BBC)
The timing of this attack is notable. China's annual parliament meeting begins Wednesday in Beijing. And the nation has been particularly wary of high-profile attacks lately.
Five people were killed last October when attackers drove a car into a crowd at Beijing's Tiananmen Square. Chinese law enforcement accused a group of ethnic Uighurs, or Muslim Chinese citizens. (Via CNN / Weibo)
There is some history of violence between the Chinese government and Muslim Chinese who support a state independent from China, though that typically plays out in Xinjiang province, in the country's northwest.
