China, the accident in Tiananmen Square was an attack by Uyghur separatists

BEIJING – Chinese police follows the trail of the suicide bombing by Xinjiang Uyghur Muslim separatists for the incident < , where a car broke down the barriers and ended up in the crowd, killing 5 and injuring 38 people.

According to the government newspaper Global Times, the police in the investigation would have identified two inhabitants of two distinct Xinjiang provinces and a 4×4 vehicle with a license plate from the region. Investigators have written to several hotels in the capital to inquire about suspected customers and vehicles from the region, concerning “an important event that occurred on Monday”.

According to the South China Morning Post website, the Beijing police are looking for information on at least eight suspects (7 Uighurs and one Chinese) and five car plates.

Xinjiang is an area with a Muslim majority in the far west of the country, populated by Turkic Uyghurs and a minority of Han Chinese and shaken by tensions and separatist violence.

The incident, for which the terrorist track now seems certain, happened at noon local time and the official Xinhua news agency reported this. The car, an SUV, hit a security fence outside the main entrance of the Forbidden City and hit several people – tourists and police officers – who were on the sidewalk.

The police have isolated and evacuated the area, usually also crowded with tourists, and closed the Tienanmen East metro station, one of which is used to access the square symbol of the student uprisings of 1989 against the Chinese government.

Some non-governmental media, already from the moments following the accident, did not rule out that it could have been a clamorous act of protest, perhaps an episode of immolation.

29 October 2013