Islamist group claims responsibility for Tienanmen attack

An Islamist militant group has claimed responsibility for the deadly car crash in Beijing's iconic Tienanmen Square last month and warned of more such attacks, a media report has said.
SITE monitoring service which tracks Islamist militant statements, said the Turkestan Islamic Party has released a Uighur-language audio speech from its leader Abdullah Mansour in which he said such operations by mujahideen, or its holy warriors, were only the beginning of attacks on Chinese authorities, the Christian Science Monitor reported.
An SUV vehicle ploughed through bystanders on the edge of the historic Forbidden City overlooking Tienanmen Square in Beijing on October 28 and burst into flames, killing the three people inside the car and two other people.

Terming it as a suicide attack, China blamed it on the banned East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) fighting for the independence of Muslim Uighur-majority Xinjiang province of China. ETIM is also alleged to have a links with al-Qaeda.
A three-member family from Xinjiang, including a man his mother and wife, who died in the attack were accused of carrying out the attack. Five people from Xinjiang who allegedly collaborated with the attackers have been arrested.
In an eight-minute message, Mansour said Uighur fighters would target even the Great Hall of the People, where the Chinese parliament meets and China's Communist Party holds legislative and ceremonial activities, SITE said.

The service quoted Mansour as saying: "Chinese unbelievers, know that you have been fooling East Turkestan for the last 60 years, but now they have awakened. The people have learned who is the real enemy and they returned to their own religion. They learned the lesson."

Since the Tiananmen incident there was one more attack on a police station in Xinjiang province in which 11 people were killed.
Security has been strengthened in both Beijing and in Xinjiang.
Xinjiang has experienced periodic unrest following Uighurs resentment over the growing settlements of Han Chinese migrants.