By Kevin M. Mathewson
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – The US State Department has described Saturday’s knife attack which killed 29 people in China’s Kunming city as “an act of terrorism”, but the lack of firearms and explosives in the attack has left some analysts unconvinced by the explanation.

Ten attackers dressed in black converged on passengers at a train station in the southwestern city of Kunming on Saturday, stabbing bystanders indiscriminately with a range of long knives, taking the lives of at least 29 people and injuring 143 more, according to state-run Xinhua News.

The statement comes after Chinese state-run media accused Washington of double standards for its initial reluctance to use the phrase.

The US Embassy in Beijing originally described the attack as “a horrific, senseless act of violence”, but on Monday US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki revised that statement and described the attack as appearing “to be an act of terrorism targeting random members of the public”.

Officials have blamed separatists from Xinjiang – which is home to the Muslim Uighur minority – for the attack.

Both this attack and an incident late last year in which a car ploughed into pedestrians in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square have been attributed to separatists from the far-western region of Xinjiang.

Authorities traditionally blame extremists for these outbreaks of violence, while Uighur activists point to tight Chinese control as a cause of tensions. Establishing facts independently is difficult, because foreign journalists’ access to the region is restricted.

In a statement, the World Uyghur Congress – a Germany-based umbrella organization of Uighur groups – condemned the violence “unequivocally”, but also called on Chinese authorities to be open and transparent in their investigation.

It urged Beijing “to refrain from using this as a pretext to further and indiscriminately crack down on Uighurs as precedents suggest, and to show a measured response”.

“It is absolutely vital the Chinese government deal with the longstanding and deteriorating human rights issues facing Uighurs if tensions are to be reduced,” its president, Rebiya Kadeer, said in the statement.

For more information, please see:

BBC News – US says Kunming attack is ‘act of terrorism’ – 4 March 2014

The Wall Street Journal – China Calibrates its Police Response to Train Station Attacks – 4 March 2014

Descrier – China blames bloody Kunming massacre on international terrorism, but many remain unconvinced – 4 March 2014

The Irish Times – Police capture remaining suspects after Kunming knife attack – 4 March 2014

The Huffington Post – Chinese Netizens Lash Out At U.S. For Downplaying Severity Of Deadly Knife Attack – 3 March 2014