A group of terrorists from the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region who carried out a deadly weekend attack at a train station in Kunming City in southwest China had tried to leave the country to wage "jihad."

The eight terrorists launched the attack last Saturday in the capital city of Yunnan Province, killing at least 29 people and wounding about 140.

Police shot dead four of the assailants and captured the other four.

Qin Guangrong, Communist Party chief of Yunnan, said that the eight attackers "originally wanted to participate in 'jihad,'" Xinhua news agency and other media reports said.

"They couldn't leave from Yunnan, so looked elsewhere. They went to Guangdong Province, but couldn't leave from there either, so returned to Yunnan," Qin was quoted as saying.

The group then went to Yunnan's Honghe county, which borders Vietnam, where they planned, if unable to leave the country there, to carry out "jihad" in Honghe or at railway or bus stations in Kunming, he added.

Qin said that "some people" who had been in contact with the eight were also in detention, though he gave no details.

There have been instances in the past of terrorist suspects who have turned up in Southeast Asia seeking asylum.

In 2009, Cambodia deported about 20 suspects to China.

China faces a real threat from militant Islamists in Xinjiang. Authorities say many have links with foreign terrorist groups.

Qin said that lessons needed to be learned from the attack that took place hundreds of kilometers from Xinjiang in a province known for its scenery and largely harmonious relations with ethnic minorities.

"(Our) awareness of terrorism was not enough. We could not have imagined before that terrorism could occur here."

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