3 dead, 79 injured in Xinjiang railway station terrorist attack(2)

Zhang shared a ward with another two injured, a 24-year-old man and a 22-year-old woman.

The young man, obviously still gripped by fear, told Xinhua that he could barely remember what had happened in the station.

CONDEMNATION

Citizens in Xinjiang strongly condemned the latest terrorist attack.

"Any attempt to create social instability is doomed to fail," said Zhang Jian, a resident in Tianshan District of Urumqi.

Xinjiang is facing good opportunities of development with remarkable improvement of living standards of all ethnic groups, he said.

Social stability is a precondition for our happy life, said Ahmolla Seydul, a village official in Hami City in eastern Xinjiang.

"We will never allow any evil force to hinder our pursuit of happiness," he said.

Wang Ping, a professor of ethnic minority studies at Xinjiang Normal University, said all attempts to sabotage peace and orchestra terrorist violence must be severely condemned.

ORDERS RESTORED

Police cordoned off all entrances to the station square after the blast. People were evacuated and trains were suspended.

The station resumed normal operations at around 9 p.m. as passengers re-entered the waiting halls with the guidance of armed police.

The BRT1 route to the railway station has also resumed normal operations, said Yang Hongjun, general manager of Urumqi city high-speed public traffic Co. Ltd.

The company has strengthened security checks at bus stops, Yang told Xinhua late Wednesday.

The station is one of the three railway stations in the city, and the largest in Xinjiang. Xinjiang intercity railway lines linking Urumqi with the cities of Kuytun, Shihezi and Karamay were expected to start operations on Thursday and an opening ceremony is planned.

HIGH ALERT ON TERRORISM

Terrorist attacks have increased in Xinjiang in recent years and have targeted places outside Xinjiang.

On March 1, knife-wielding assailants killed 29 civilians and injured another 143 at a railway station in the southwestern Chinese city of Kunming in March. Evidence linked the attack to separatists from Xinjiang.

Xinjiang was also hit by violent terrorist attacks in the past year. In an incident last June, rioters killed 24 people at the region's Lukqun Township.

During an inspection tour to Xinjiang which ended on Wednesday, President Xi said that long-term stability in Xinjiang was vital to the whole country's stability and national security.