Oral accounts of 2012 terror attack unveiled

Report on atrocities in Xinjiang to make counterterrorism efforts better known

Chinese researchers published on Thursday oral accounts by survivors of a terrorist attack that occurred in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region 12 years ago, turning the spotlight on a group of people who they say have long been understudied by scholars and have remained hidden from the public eye.

The report, titled "Victims and Survivors of Terrorism in China: An Oral History", was released at a seminar held at Jinan University in Guangzhou, Guangdong province. It reveals the harrowing experiences of those who lived through the atrocities that took place on a pedestrian street in southern Xinjiang's Yecheng county on Feb 28, 2012.

Nine terrorists, who failed to execute their original plan that involved attacking students of nearby elementary and middle schools, went on a killing spree on Xingfu Road that evening, leaving 13 people dead and 16 injured on the spot, most of them passers-by or shopkeepers. Two victims later died in a hospital.