BRUSSELS - EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on Sunday condemned the Kunming terrorist attacks and sent condolences to the victims' families.

"The High Representative is appalled by the reports she has received of the significant loss of life and the many casualties caused by a mass knife attack that took place at Kunming train station in China yesterday," Ashton's spokesman Sebastien Brabant told Xinhua.

"There is never any justification for such heinous crimes," said the spokesman.

"The High Representative wishes to extend her condolences and sympathy to the families who have suffered death and injury as a consequence," he said.

Twenty-nine civilians were confirmed dead and more than 140 others wounded after a group of knife-wielding militants attacked the railway station in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province, on Saturday.

The authorities said that it was an organized, premeditated violent terrorist attack.

Evidence at the scene showed that the attack was carried out by Xinjiang terrorists, said the municipal government of Kunming.