The search goes on for suspects involved in the Tiananmen Square car crash, which left five people dead. Police created a dragnet of checkpoints around the city to find eight people.

Five have so far been arrested in what the Chinese authorities are now calling a terrorist attack. Residents expressed their concern:

“I don’t understand their motives, but no matter what goals they may have, this kind of action cannot be taken. I think it’s a very stupid course of action.”

Another resident said:
“I thought something like this would be so far off from happening to us here, but for this to suddenly happen so close to me, I feel like I can’t accept it. I just feel worried and scared.”

An official police blog reports that the SUV used in the square contained three people with Uighur-sounding names. Uighurs are Muslims from China’s western region of Xinjiang who resent the strict controls imposed on them.

Police said the incident was “carefully planned, organised, and premeditated.”