On Monday October 28th, shortly after noon, three Uyghur nationals, Usmen Hasan, his mother Kuwanhan Reyim and his wife Gulkiz Gini plowed off the of Chang’an Avenue in a white Mercedes Benz SUV with Xinjiang plates, honking through 400 yards of pedestrian traffic on the sidewalk towards the entrance to the Forbidden City. They weaved around poles and bushes and then ran into the the Jinshui Bridge railing. Western tourists in the area said they heard an explosion and then saw fire. The SUV burst into flames, engulfing the vehicle. All inside perished in flames plus one Chinese citizen and one vacationing Filipino woman. 40 others were injured.

Tuesday, October 29th, Beijing Police put out a notice to local hotels to deliver information on Uyghur guests registered since October 1st. They gave four license plate numbers registered in Xinjiang and two Uyghur names along with a request to watch for suspicious guests.

Wednesday, October 30th Beijing police arrested five suspects in Xinjiang. They claim to have recovered knives, a jihad flag and other terrorist paraphernalia at the temporary residence of the five suspects in Xinjiang. Within hours of the arrest Beijing had placed the blame on the East Turkistan Independence Movement (ETIM).

Six days after the attack rising star General Peng Yong was stripped of his position and is expected to lose his military rank as well. This hints at the serious nature of the attack ahead of the third plenium of the 18th people’s congress to take place November 9th-14th in Beijing, a stone’s throw from the site of the fiery suicide attack.

Exactly one year prior, on Oct 28, 2012 Mr. Hasan’s Philal mosque was partially demolished by Chinese authorities and a contingent of some 100 armed police. A new courtyard section of the mosque was destroyed and locals of Hasan’s village of Yengi Aymaq, in Xinjiang, claim Hasan interfered and asked locals not to resist. His mother (who also died in the car attack) was at the demolition. This, according to ousted village leader Hamut Turdi. Hasan left the following day and did not return. It is also claimed that his brother was killed by Han Chinese in a traffic stop some years prior.