A Chinese paramilitary patrol car at the Tiananmen Square
Chinese state media demanded severe punishment
on Thursdayfor those behind what China said is a holy war aimed at Beijing, which it hasblamed on Islamist militants from the restive Xinjiang region.
The exiled leader of Xinjiang's Muslim Uighur minority called for anindependent probe into a crash on Monday when an SUV burst into flames after beingdriven into a crowd in Tiananmen Square, one of China's most closely guardedareas. The three occupants of the vehicle and two bystanders were killed, anddozens injured.
U.S. based Rebiya Kadeer said she did not believe any kind of organisedextremist Islamic movement was operating in Xinjiang, a view shared by rightsgroups and some experts.
"It is almost impossible for Uighurs to organise because of China'sstringent controls and attacks," she said in an interview.
But police said Monday's incident was a carefully planned and organised"terrorist attack" carried out by people from Xinjiang. They announcedthey had apprehended five accomplices in Beijing who they said were Islamistmilitants planning a holy war. Their names suggest they are Uighurs.
Such an attack is a crime against humanity, the city's official BeijingDaily said in a commentary. The government should spare no effort to ensureBeijing's safety, it added.
"Violent terrorist crime is the shared enemy of all humanity, theshared enemy of all ethnic groups in the country, and it must be severelypunished under the law," said the commentary, which was also carried by theruling Communisty Party's People's Daily website.
"Maintaining the capital's security and stability is a responsibilityof utmost importance."
The English-language China Daily said the perpetrators will "go down inhistory as murderers not heroes".
Xinjiang, in China's west, has been beset by violence, blamed by China onUighur separatists and extremists. Many Uighurs in the region, which bordersCentral Asian nations that were part of the former Soviet Union as well asAfghanistan and Pakistan, chaff at Chinese controls on their religion, cultureand language, although the government says they enjoy widespread freedoms.
Kadeer, president of the Munich-based World Uyghur Congress, the main exiledUighur organisation, cautioned against believing China's account of theincident.
"Chinese claims simply cannot be accepted as facts without anindependent and international investigation of what took place in Beijing on Monday,"Kadeer said.
China, which calls Kadeer an "anti-Chinese splittist", will almostcertainly ignore her call for an international investigation.
Authorities have tightened security in energy-rich Xinjiang, with addedpolice presence on the streets. Armed police prevented Reuters reporters fromentering Lukqun town, where one of the detained suspects is from, sending themback to the nearby city of Turpan.
Security has also been tightened in Beijing with extra police at the airportand on the streets. Some residents expressed fear about how unrest in Xinjianghad apparently made its way to the capital.
"Actually I feel very afraid because I often go over to Tiananmen. Ithought something like this would be so far off from happening to us here, butfor this to suddenly happen so close to me. I just feel worried andscared," said Zhang Xiaoyan, 26, who works in financial services.
Kadeer said Uighurs may or may not have been responsible for the attack on Monday.
"It is difficult to tell at the moment, given the strict control ofinformation by the Chinese government on this tragic incident," she said.
"If the Uighurs did it, I believe they did it out of desperationbecause there is no channel for the Uighur people to seek redress for any kindof injustice they had suffered under Chinese rule."
Her comments were made in written replies to Reuters questions, translatedfrom the Uighur language by an aide.
Kadeer is a former Chinese political prisoner who was accused of leakingstate secrets in 1999. She left China on medical parole and settled nearWashington with her husband in 2005. The 66-year-old mother of 11 was previouslya celebrated millionaire who advised China's parliament.
Kadeer said she feared the Tiananmen Square attack would join a long list ofincidents that China uses "to justify its heavy-handed repression" inher native region.
© Thomson Reuters 2013