PHOTOS: At Least 33 Dead, 130 Injured After Gang Of Knife-Wielding Men Attack Train Station In China

 

At least 33 people are dead and 130 injured after a group of knife-wielding men hacked their way through innocent people at one of China's busiest railway stations.

Distressing photos circulating online showed bodies, pools of blood and abandoned luggage scattered across the terminal floor at Kunming Railway Station in Yunnan province.

 

Authorities described the incident at about 9.20pm local time (1.20pm GMT) as an 'organised, premeditated, violent terrorist attack' in which at least 10 people stabbed commuters outside the station terminal before moving inside.

The death toll stands at 29 bystanders and four attackers who were shot dead by police.

Nothing is yet known of the motivation behind the attack, but the Chinese government has blamed militants from the remote far western region of Xinjiang, which is home to tensions between the government and Muslim separatists.

The Muslim Uighur minority are said to be angry at the treatment of their beliefs by the authorities.

Horror: Photos shared on the Chinese micro-blogging site Weibo showed bodies strewn across the floor

Distressing: Photos circulated widely on the internet showed a line-up of bodies on the station floor surrounded by medical equipment. The majority of the photos are too graphic to publish 

Emergency: Medics were still treating people in the station hours after the attack, said a Chinese news agency

Abandoned: Travel bags surrounded by blood lie strewn across then floor of the terminal, protected by police

Carnage: The attack was described as a 'violent terror attack' by state television