China executes Tiananmen Square ‘attackers’

China has executed eight people for alleged “terrorist” attacks across the country, including three who “masterminded” a car crash in the capital Beijing’s Tiananmen Square last year, state media has said.

The official Xinhua news agency said on Sunday that the eight were involved in several cases in Beijing and in the restive far northwestern region of Xinjiang.

Three of the executed group “masterminded” the October 2013 attack in the heart of the Chinese capital, the report said. They were indentified by Xinhua as Huseyin Guxur, Yusup Wherniyas and Yusup Ehmet.

Five people were killed and 40 injured in the Beijing attack, when a car plowed into a crowd in the square and burst into flames.

State television showed images of the individuals who have been executed being led into court and questioned by the police. It also showed footage of the Tiananmen attack, with a car being driven into the square.

The five other executions, carried out in recent days, were punishment for crimes ranging from setting up a “terrorist” outfit and illegally making explosives to attacking police officers and killing government officials, Xinhua said.

Xinhua, which cited the Xinjiang region publicity department in its report, did not say when the executions were carried out.

Some of those executed were blamed for attacks in Xinjiang’s prefecture of Aksu, the city of Kashgar and the town of Hotan, the agency added.