Police say 5 arrested in Tiananmen Gate attack

AAA  Oct. 30, 2013 7:31 AM ET
Police say 5 arrested in Tiananmen Gate attack
By CHRISTOPHER BODEENBy CHRISTOPHER BODEEN, Associated Press  

Two passengers on a bus talk about the suicide car crash near Tiananmen Gate as the bus drives past the spot where, on Monday, a sport utility vehicle crashed and caught fire, in Beijing, China, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2013. Chinese police are circulating a list of eight suspects wanted in connection with the apparent suicide car crash near Tiananmen Square in Beijing that killed five people and injured dozens, a hotel manager said Wednesday. (AP Photo/Alexander F. Yuan)

Two passengers on a bus talk about the suicide car crash near Tiananmen Gate as the bus drives past the spot where, on Monday, a sport utility vehicle crashed and caught fire, in Beijing, China, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2013. Chinese police are circulating a list of eight suspects wanted in connection with the apparent suicide car crash near Tiananmen Square in Beijing that killed five people and injured dozens, a hotel manager said Wednesday. (AP Photo/Alexander F. Yuan)

Paramilitary policemen, back, guard a street as people wait at a bus stop near Tiananmen Gate, where a sport utility vehicle veered into a crowd and then crashed and caught fire, in Beijing, China, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2013. Chinese police are circulating a list of eight suspects wanted in connection with the apparent suicide car crash near Tiananmen Square in Beijing that killed five people and injured dozens, a hotel manager said Wednesday. (AP Photo/Alexander F. Yuan)

Two policewomen, right, a traffic police, in yellow vest, and members of a SWAT team guard a street corner, where, on Monday, a sport utility vehicle veered into a crowd near Tiananmen Gate, where the car crashed and caught fire, in Beijing, China, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2013. Chinese police are circulating a list of eight suspects wanted in connection with the apparent suicide car crash near Tiananmen Square in Beijing that killed five people and injured dozens, a hotel manager said Wednesday. (AP Photo/Alexander F. Yuan)

A partially damaged stone bridge is surrounded by potted plants in front of Tiananmen Gate, where, on Monday, a sport utility vehicle crashed and caught fire, in Beijing, China, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2013. Chinese police are circulating a list of eight suspects wanted in connection with the apparent suicide car crash near Tiananmen Square in Beijing that killed five people and injured dozens, a hotel manager said Wednesday. (AP Photo/Alexander F. Yuan)

Policemen, in uniforms and plainclothes, and paramilitary policemen check a bus after petitioners on the bus tried to throw leaflets through the bus window near Tiananmen Gate, where, on Monday, a sport utility vehicle crashed and caught fire, in Beijing, China, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2013. Chinese police are circulating a list of eight suspects wanted in connection with the apparent suicide car crash near Tiananmen Square in Beijing that killed five people and injured dozens, a hotel manager said Wednesday. (AP Photo/Alexander F. Yuan)

BEIJING (AP) — Police announced the arrests Wednesday of five people in connection with this week's suicide car crash in the heart of China's capital, calling it a planned terror attack — Beijing's first in recent history — and identifying the attackers as members of a Muslim minority.

Police said the five suspects were detained the same day as the Monday noon attack at the Forbidden City gate across from Tiananmen Square, in the culturally and politically sensitive section of Beijing where China's Communist Party leaders live and work.

A statement on the Beijing police microblog said the perpetrators had also been identified as a man with an ethnic Uighur name, his wife and his mother. The five suspects arrested on suspicion of conspiring in the attack were also identified with typically Uighur names.

All three perpetrators died when their vehicle exploded beneath the portrait of Mao Zedong hanging from Tiananmen Gate. Two tourists, including a Filipino woman, were killed by the vehicle as it sped down a crowded sidewalk.

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

Uighurs (pronounced WEE-gur) are Muslim Turks native to the restive northwestern region of Xinjiang where extremists have been battling security forces for years.

The statement said the five detained had helped plan and execute the attack, and were caught 10 hours after it was carried out. It said they had been on the run and were tracked down with the help of police in Xinjiang and elsewhere. It didn't say where they were captured, but said police had found jihadi flags and long knives inside their temporary lodgings.

"The initial understanding of the police is that the Oct. 28 incident is a case of a violent terrorist attack that was carefully planned, organized and plotted," the statement said.

Associated Press



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