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. 
 
 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... (Associated Press) 
 
 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... (Associated Press) 
 
 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.... (Associated Press) 
 
 A tourist takes photos near a partially damaged stone bridge, surrounded by potted plants, in front of Tiananmen Gate, where, on Monday, a sport utility vehicle crashed and caught fire, in Beijing, China,... (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,... (Associated Press) 
 
 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,... (Associated Press) 
 
 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. ||||| BEIJING/TURPAN, China (Reuters) - China said on Wednesday it had caught five suspected Islamist militants after a vehicle burst into flames on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in what police called a terrorist attack. 
 
 Authorities also moved to tighten security in the restive far western, energy-rich region of Xinjiang, where the suspects are from. 
 
 The Xinjiang-registered SUV involved in Monday’s incident in which five people were killed was driven by Usmen Hasan, police said, a man whose name suggested he is an ethnic Uighur, a Muslim people from Xinjiang. 
 
 His wife and mother were with him in the car, along with devices filled with gasoline, knives and a flag with “religious extremist content” written on it, police said on their official microblog. 
 
 The vehicle ploughed into pedestrians in the square, which has drawn occasional protests since 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations were suppressed by the military. Sources earlier told Reuters it was a suspected suicide attack. 
 
 “Police have identified Monday’s incident at Tiananmen Square as a violent terrorist attack which was carefully planned, organized and premeditated,” police said, adding the three people in the vehicle died after they set the gasoline on fire. 
 
 The other two people killed were tourists. At least 38 people were injured. 
 
 Five people connected with the incident were caught just 10 hours after the attack, with help from the Xinjiang government, the police added, all of whom also have names that suggest they are Uighur. 
 
 Police said they had seized Islamist militant flags and knives from where they were staying. 
 
 “As a common enemy of mankind, terrorism has no future, and is doomed to failure,” state television said in a commentary on its microblog. “We firmly believe that the Communist Party and government have the ability and the power to resolutely beat back and defeat all illegal terrorist activities.” 
 
 As authorities stepped up already-tight security in Xinjiang, Dilxat Raxit, a spokesman for the main exiled Uighur group, the World Uyghur Congress, warned against believing China’s side of the story. 
 
 “Beijing has always made these kind of accusations, but they refuse to make public the reasoning behind them. They will not make the story behind the accusations transparent,” he told Reuters. 
 
 “ULTERIOR MOTIVE” 
 
 Raxit said he was worried the incident would provide authorities with an excuse “to further repress Uighurs”. 
 
 “If an attack is committed by a Han Chinese, it’s not terrorism, but if a Uighur commits it, it is,” he said, referring to the majority community. “Beijing makes these accusations in service of an ulterior motive.” 
 
 The government denies accusations of repression. 
 
 It insists its respects the region’s people and traditions and blames separatist Uighur militants for provoking violence in Xinjiang, which borders the Central Asian states of the former Soviet Union as well as Afghanistan and Pakistan. 
 
 Reuters reporters in Xinjiang were turned back by police at a roadblock outside Lukqun town, and sent back to the nearby city of Turpan. 
 
 Police have identified one of the caught suspects as being from Lukqun, where 35 people died in June in what China also termed a terrorist attack. 
 
 “We have some police matters we are handling. For security reasons, you are not allowed in. I imagine it will be at least another month or two before this area is open,” a police officer at the checkpoint said. 
 
 In a small village near the checkpoint, a young Uighur man who declined to give his name said people were afraid. 
 
 “In the past few days, the police have been everywhere. At night, the sirens were all around. We are afraid to speak. If you speak, you will be taken away or shot,” the man said, making a pistol shape with his hand. 
 
 Xinjiang is home to the Turkic-speaking Uighurs, many of whom chaff at China’s controls on their religion and culture and there have been violent clashes there in the past. 
 
 But many experts, rights groups and exiles say China exaggerates the militant threat to justify its harsh rule, and that there is no cohesive separatist or extremist movement. 
 
 A relative of Filipino Rizalina Bunyi, who died in the car incident which killed five pedestrians in front of Tiananmen Gate on Monday, is pictured as he and other relatives arrive at Beijing airport, October 30, 2013. REUTERS/Jason Lee 
 
 “The footage and photos that have been made available suggest a sense of randomness about the attack even though officials have said it was premeditated,” said Michael Clarke, a professor at Australia’s Griffith University who has studied Xinjiang. 
 
 “It’s perhaps not as sophisticated as it’s made out to be.” ||||| In a dusty outdoor curio market in China's capital, traders from the minority Uighur community gathered Wednesday to swap stories about the omnipresent harassment they say they suffer at the hands of the police. That scrutiny has only intensified after this week's deadly vehicle attack at Tiananmen Square in which the Uighurs are the prime suspects. 
 
 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... (Associated Press) 
 
 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... (Associated Press) 
 
 A tourist takes photos near a partially damaged stone bridge, surrounded by potted plants, in front of Tiananmen Gate, where, on Monday, a sport utility vehicle crashed and caught fire, in Beijing, China,... (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,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Map locates Xinjiang province in China, where the Uighur population is concentrated; 2c x 4 1/2 inches; 96.3 mm x 114 mm; (Associated Press) 
 
 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,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Before the day ended, five of the suspects had been arrested on suspicion of involvement in Monday's attack, which a police statement described as carefully planned terrorism. Police also said knives, iron rods, gasoline and a flag with religious slogans were found in the vehicle used in the suicide attack. 
 
 "They (police) come to search us every day. We don't know why. Our IDs are checked every day, and we don't know what is happening," said Ali Rozi, 28, a Uighur trader at the sprawling Panijayuan market. 
 
 "We have trouble every day, but we haven't done anything," said Rozi, who is from Kashghar, the capital of Xinjiang province where most Uighurs live. 
 
 Militants from the Muslim Uighur community have been fighting a low-intensity insurgency against Chinese rule in Xinjiang, for years. Recent clashes, including an attack on a police station, have left at least 56 people dead this year. The government typically calls the incidents terrorist attacks. 
 
 The police scrutiny of the Uighurs in Beijing highlights the years of discrimination that has fueled Uighur demands for independence for their northwestern homeland of Xinjiang. Many Uighurs say they face routine discrimination, irksome restrictions on their culture and Muslim religion, and economic disenfranchisement that has left them largely poor even as China's economy booms. 
 
 Monday's incident, in which a sports utility vehicle barreled through crowds and burst into flames near the portrait of Mao Zedong on Tiananmen Gate. Three of the car's occupants and two bystanders were killed, and dozens injured in a strike at the capital's political heart, where China's Communist Party leaders live and work. 
 
 A list of as many as 10 suspects _ all but one of them believed to be Uighur _ was distributed to hotels in a bid for information. 
 
 If the Tiananmen Square incident proves to be the handiwork of Uighurs, it would be the first such attack outside the region in recent history, and among the most ambitious given the high-profile target. 
 
 "I am also upset. They crashed a car, and we end up being harassed by police every day now, saying that we Xinjiang people are like that," said Rozi Ura Imu, a 48-year-old trader in jade and other precious stones from the ancient Silk Road city of Kashghar. 
 
 The Panijayuan market has thousands of stalls featuring crafts from regions throughout China: rows of statues and furniture, bins of beads and trinkets, cases of books and scrolls. 
 
 Uighurs are a Turkic Central Asian people related to Uzbeks, Khazaks and other groups. With their slightly European features and heavy accents, most are immediately recognizable as distinct from China's ethnic Han majority. 
 
 Many complain of strict government controls not seen in other parts of China, including a ban on religious observance by minors and injunctions against traditional male cultural gatherings called meshreps. Recent moves to mainly use Chinese in Xinjiang schools have raised fears of the further erosion of Uighur language and culture, as well as job losses for Uighur teachers. 
 
 Uighurs also say they've seen little benefit from the exploitation of Xinjiang's natural resources while good jobs tend to flow to migrants from China's ethnic Han majority. 
 
 Uighurs frequently say they're made to feel like second-class citizens, facing difficulties obtaining passports or even traveling outside Xinjiang. Hotels and airlines are reported to have floating unofficial bans on catering to Uighurs, and many employers refuse to hire them. 
 
 "Hotels won't take us and you can't rent if your ID shows a Xinjiang residence. People look at us with a lot of prejudice," said Yusuf Mahmati, 33, a fur trader plying his wares on a busy sidewalk opposite the Panijayuan market, a gathering place for traders from several regional ethnic groups. 
 
 Uighur activists say they fear Uighurs could face even more discrimination following this week's attack and urged the government to conduct a transparent investigation. 
 
 The overseas advocacy group World Uyghur Congress on Tuesday urged caution and expressed concerns that Beijing could use the incident to demonize Uighurs as a group. 
 
 Beijing-based Uighur economist Ilham Tohti urged the government to make public its findings if it indeed has evidence that Uighurs were involved in a terrorist attack. 
 
 "I wish they will promptly announce the identities of the deceased, and all relevant information. If the government has concluded this is a terrorist attack, then please tell us what is the plot behind it," Tohti said. 
 
 Tohti has faced frequent police harassment for his activism. He was placed under house arrest numerous times in the wake of deadly ethnic rioting in Xinjiang's capital, Urumqi, in 2009 that sparked a nationwide crackdown on Uighur activists. 
 
 The Urumqi violence that left nearly 200 dead, most of them Han, had strong ethnic overtones, beginning with a protest over the killing of Uighur workers at a south China toy factory over false rumors of sexual assaults on Chinese women. China termed the bloodshed a terrorist attack planned by overseas-based Uighur rights advocates and heavily stepped up its security presence in Xinjiang. 
 
 Chinese authorities rarely provide direct evidence to back up terrorism claims, and critics say ordinary crimes or cases of civil unrest are often labeled as organized acts of terror. 
 
 However, Xinjiang borders Afghanistan and unstable Central Asian states with militant Islamic groups, and Uighurs are believed to be among militants sheltering in Pakistan's lawless northwestern region. 
 
 Police haven't commented on the investigation into Monday's incident, and state media reports spoke only of the condition of the injured, including three Filipino citizens and one Japanese man. A Filipino woman and Chinese man were among the five killed, along with the three people in the vehicle. 
 
 China has largely been successful at limiting both the volume and effectiveness of domestic terrorist attacks, while containing them mainly to Xinjiang, said Philip Potter, an expert on Xinjiang and security at the University of Michigan. 
 
 However, the Chinese government has warned that radicals were planning attacks outside of Xinjiang. 
 
 Should they become capable of attacking in China's eastern population centers "they would have easy access to soft, high-profile targets as well as an information and media environment that is increasingly ripe for terrorist exploitation," Potter said.
– Five people have been arrested in connection with what Chinese authorities are calling a "terrorist attack" in Tiananmen Square on Monday. The cops say the car that plowed into crowds and burst into flames, killing five, contained gasoline, knives, and a jihadist flag, reports Reuters. The man identified by police as the driver, Usmen Hasan, had a Uighur name, and was joined in the vehicle by his wife and mother, the AP reports. The five arrested in relation to the attacks also have names that suggest they are Uighurs. "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," police said in a statement. 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. Meanwhile, ethnic Uighurs say they have been subject to increased police scrutiny since the attack. "They (police) come to search us every day. We don't know why. Our IDs are checked every day, and we don't know what is happening," one man tells the AP.