Police captured three suspects on Monday, the ministry of public security said, adding that eight people were involved in all, four shot dead and a wounded woman held at the scene.
State media were quick to point the finger at “Xinjiang separatists”, code for Uighurs, the largest single group in Xinjiang.
Some analysts outside mainland China, however, are wary of such assertions until hard evidence emerges, given the state’s overwhelming control of domestic information and media.
Clarke said that if eventually proven, it “really signals a new level in development in terms of the conflict there, in a sense spreading the struggle from Xinjiang basically to the rest of China.
“And that has to be concerning for the Communist Party moving forward.”
Beijing regularly accuses what it says are exiled Uighur separatist groups such as the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) and the Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP) as being behind terrorism.
The US-based SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors extremist groups, said in November that in a video posted online TIP leader Abdullah Mansour described a fiery vehicle crash on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square as a “jihadi operation” and the perpetrators “mujahideen”.
He warned Uighur fighters would target the Great Hall of the People on Tiananmen Square, where the ruling Communist Party holds key meetings such as this week’s annual session of China’s rubber-stamp legislature.
“The Kunming attack is either ETIM-led or ETIM-inspired,” said Rohan Gunaratna, professor of security studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, describing it as the military wing of the TIP and the only group with the ability to conduct or instigate such an assault.
About The Author
