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 The government has said the attack, in the city of Kunming, was
carried out by knife-wielding separatists from the far western
region of Xinjiang, which is located on the borders of Central Asia.
The three men who were executed, Iskandar Ehet, Turgun Tohtunyaz and
Hasayn Muhammad, were sentenced to death in September after being
convicted of homicide and leading a terrorist organization, the
Kunming Intermediate People's Court said. A higher court later
upheld the sentence, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Police shot four other assailants dead during the knife attack,
which injured 141 people on March 1, 2014.
 Xinjiang, home to the Muslim Uighur minority group, has been plagued
by unrest in recent years. Some Uighurs have chafed under Chinese
restrictions on their culture and religion.
Dilxat Raxit, a spokesman for the exiled World Uyghur Congress, said
the defendants were denied a fair trial.
"China's use of the death penalty as a political tool does not
address the root of the problem," he said in an e-mail to Reuters.
"China continues to make use of this incident to incite
discrimination against Uighurs."
The Chinese government denies accusations of official discrimination
against Uighurs, and says all trials are carried out fairly and in
accordance with the rule of law.
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Rights groups have expressed concern about executions and
mass-sentencings carried out regularly since an upswing in violence
blamed on Xinjiang militants took place last year.
Another female attacker, Patigul Tohti, who was pregnant when she
was arrested, received a life sentence, Xinhua said.
(Reporting By Megha Rajagopalan; Editing by Paul Tait)
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