Two suspected Islamic militants from the restive Xinjiang region bordering PoK were involved in the mysterious car crash at the iconic Tiananmen Square here that left at least five people dead, Chinese police said today.
A sports utility vehicle ploughed into pedestrians and caught fire at the Forbidden City entrance overlooking Tiananmen Square here yesterday, the site of the 1989 pro-democracy uprising that was brutally crushed by the army.
Last night, police sent a lookout notice to hotels for "suspicious guests", who had stayed in the city since October 1, and sought information on "suspicious vehicles," state-run Global Times newspaper reported.
The police notice said a "major case had taken place on Monday" and named two residents of Pishan county and Shanshan county of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region as likely suspects, it said.
Police also described the light-coloured SUV which crashed into the steel railings and later caught fire as having number plates from Xinjiang, where Chinese security forces are facing a violent insurgency headed by the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM), an al-Qaeda linked separatist group.
The notice said the SUV has license number plates, all starting with the regional character showing they were from Xinjiang, the daily report said.
Xinjiang, home to the Uyghur Muslims, has been restive for the past few years as native Uyghurs have protested over growing settlements of Han Chinese in the province, bordering PoK and Afghanistan.
If confirmed, this will be the first major incident involving Xinjiang militants in well-guarded Beijing.
