BEIJING, Mar 14: At least three persons were killed in knife attacks by unidentified assailants on civilians in a central Chinese city today, just two weeks after a deadly stabbing attack at a train station left 33 people dead.
A group of knife-wielding attackers slashed victims this morning on a street in Changsha City, capital of central China’s Hunan province, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Three persons were killed in the attack, it said.
Police officers and ambulances were at the site, which has been cordoned off.
Postings on Weibo, China’s equivalent to Twitter, said the violence occurred near a food market, quoting witnesses.
Guoqing Primary School nearby has been closed and students are not allowed to leave the campus.
China blamed the attack at Kunming railway station on militants from the restive Xinjiang region where the native Muslim Uygur community is opposed to settlements of people from the majority Hans from the rest of the country.
Chinese government attributed the attacks being carried out by East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM), an al-Qaeda backed militant group fighting for the independence of Xinjiang. (AGENCIES)