Attackers who launched a brutal mass knifing at a Chinese train station acted in desperation after a failed attempt to leave the country and become jihadists overseas, quoted a Chinese official on Wednesday
Qin Guangrong, the Communist Party chief of Yunnan province which includes Kunming, said the eight attackers traveled to his province, Guangdong, which borders Hong Kong, as they tried to leave the country, the China Radio International said, in a report that was later deleted from its website.
“These eight individuals originally wanted to join jihad,” Qin was quoted as saying.
“They couldn’t get out at Yunnan so tried to get out in other places, but they also couldn’t leave Guangdong, so once again they returned to Yunnan.”
When the group failed to escape through southern Yunnan’s Honghe country — which borders Vietnam — they hatched the plan to target either the frontier area or Kunming’s transport terminals, the report quoted Qin as saying.
