Tiananmen Square Attack Was Jihadi Operation Claims Islamist Group

The Turkestan Islamic Party Saturday released a Uighur-language speech from its leader Abdullah Mansour. He said the Oct. 28 attack, and other jihadi operations by holy warriors, was only the beginning of attacks on Chinese authorities.

An Islamist militant group calling itself the Turkestan Islamic Party said a deadly car crash in Beijing's Tiananmen Square on Oct. 28 was a "jihadi operation" by holy warriors, the SITE monitoring service said.

The service, which tracks Islamist militant statements, said the party had released a Uighur-language audio speech from its leader Abdullah Mansour in which he said such operations by mujahideen, or its holy warriors, were only the beginning of attacks on Chinese authorities.

In the attack, a vehicle ploughed through bystanders on the edge of the capital's Tiananmen Square and burst into flames, killing the three people in the car and two bystanders.

In an eight-minute message, Mansour said Uighur fighters would target even the Great Hall of the People, where the Chinese parliament meets and China's Communist Party holds legislative and ceremonial activities, SITE said.

Given the Chinese Communist governments paranoia about maintaining social stability and cohesion in making this announcement the Turkestan Islamic Party has given the authorities in Beijing another reason to continue its security crackdown on the Uighurs of Xinjiang who are majority Muslim and are related to other ethnic groups in Central Asia rather than the Han Chinese.