Beijing Blames Separatists For Tiananmen Attack

Beijing Blames Separatists For Tiananmen Attack at Tiananmen Square in Beijing on October 28.

China's top security official on November 1 said Beijing believes the militant East Turkestan Islamic Movement was responsible for the deadly car crash on Tiananmen Square in Beijing earlier in the week.

Meng Jianzhu did not provide further detail, and the alleged terrorist group has not claimed responsibility.

A vehicle plowed through bystanders, crashed and burst into flames near the Tiananmen Gate on October 28, killing three in the car and two tourists, and injuring dozens.

Beijing police said the perpetrators were a man with an ethnic Uyghur name, his wife and his mother.

Police also have arrested five people — identified with typically Uyghur names — on suspicion of conspiring in the attack and called it a planned terror strike.

Police said knives, iron rods, gasoline and a flag imprinted with religious slogans were found in the vehicle.

Beijing has blamed Uyghur organizations for terrorist attacks in the northwestern region of Xinjiang, but exile groups accuse authorities of exaggerating the threat to justify its harsh rule.

Based on Reuters and AP reporting