5 detained over Tian'anmen terrorist attack

BEIJING - Chinese police have identified Monday's deadly crash at downtown Beijing's Tian'anman Square as a terrorist attack and five suspects have been detained.

The attack was "carefully planned, organized and premeditated," police said.

With the cooperation of police authorities including those in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, Beijing police have captured five suspects who had been at large, a spokesman with the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau said on Wednesday.

Usmen Hasan, his mother, Kuwanhan Reyim, and his wife, Gulkiz Gini, drove a jeep with a Xinjiang plate to crash into a crowd of people at noon on Monday, killing two people and injuring another 40, the spokesman said.

The jeep crashed into a guard rail of Jinshui Bridge across the moat of the Forbidden City. The three people in the jeep died after they set gasoline inside the vehicle on fire, according to the spokesman.

Police found gasoline, equipment full of gasoline, two knives and steel sticks as well as a flag with extremist religious content in the jeep.

Police have also found knives and at least one "jihad" flag in the temporary residence of the five detained suspects.

The suspects caught in connection with the incident are Husanjan Wuxur, Gulnar Tuhtiniyaz, Yusup Umarniyaz, Bujanat Abdukadir and Yusup Ahmat.

According to the spokesman, they admitted that they knew Usmen Hasan and conspired to plan and carry out the attack. They said they had not expected that the police could capture them only about 10 hours after the incident.

Further investigation into the case is under way.

Police said the two people killed in the attack were a Philippine female tourist and a male tourist from south China's Guangdong Province.

The injured include three tourists from the Philippines as well as a male tourist from Japan.

The government has urged all-out efforts to save the lives of the injured, a quick search for the truth behind the incident and strong measures to guarantee the safety and stability of the capital city.

The injured are receiving treatment at nearby hospitals. Doctors have carried out operations, bandaging and other emergency treatment measures according to their injuries.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hua Chunying said on Wednesday that China expressed condolences to the victims, pledging to provide necessary assistance to relevant countries.

"We feel grieved for the unfortunate incident, and express condolences to the innocent victims and solicitude to the bereaved families and the injured," Hua said at a daily press briefing in response to the incident.

The Chinese government informed the embassies of relevant countries in Beijing in time after the incident. It also facilitated visits to the injured by consuls of relevant countries, she said, adding that the Chinese side will continue to provide necessary assistance.