Wielding axes, 'they only wanted to kill'

Wang said he sustained grievous head and shoulder injuries in the attack and spent 46 days in a hospital. The local government covered all his medical expenses, which amounted to 20,000 yuan ($2,800).

A doctor who examined his wounds later told him that his collar bone would have been fractured had the machete gone half a centimeter deeper.

He recalled hearing about other atrocities that occurred that day.

"An auxiliary police officer was hacked to death. I heard he was on traffic duty near the rear entrance of Xingfu Road. And a 60-year-old woman was sitting in front of a rice noodle shop across the street when three terrorists broke her jaw," Wang said.

Nine terrorists in three groups attacked people along the pedestrian street. Most of the victims were elderly, sick, disabled or women, he said.