Tiananmen Square as smoke rises into the air. (Getty Images)
According to The Wall Street Journal, Chinese police said that terrorists were behind Monday’s deadly car crash in Tiananmen Square and that they had detained five suspects, as more details emerged to suggest the rare violent attack in China’s capital was rooted in ethnic grievances.
Authorities on Wednesday didn’t place blame on any group, but released information suggesting the attack was carried out by people from the western region of Xinjiang, which has seen protests against Chinese rule by some members of its mostly Muslim Uighur minority.
Authorities detained the suspects about 10 hours after Monday’s crash, the official Xinhua news agency said on Wednesday. It didn’t say where the suspects, two of whom are women, were detained. The occupants of the car were a man, his wife and his mother, who died after they ignited gasoline in the vehicle, according to the Xinhua report, which cited a spokesman with the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau.
The crash—which occurred in front of the Forbidden City in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, just below the famous portrait of Mao Zedong —also killed two tourists and injured 40 others, according to authorities.
Police described the attack as “carefully planned, organized and premeditated,” Xinhua said. They recovered gasoline canisters, iron rods, two machetes and banners with “religious extremist” slogans from the vehicle used in the attack, Xinhua said. Police identified the vehicle used in the attack as a Jeep with a license plate from Xinjiang, Xinhua said.
The Asian Century Report 