A car crash that occurred near downtown Beijing's Tiananmen Square on October 28 was a "carefully planned, organized and premeditated" terrorist attack, according to the Beijing police.

The three attackers died during the incident and a further five suspects have been detained, a police spokesman announced on October 30.

Usmen Hasan, his mother, Kuwanhan Reyim, and his wife, Gulkiz Gini, drove a jeep with a license plate belonging to northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and intentionally crashed into a crowd of people, before setting gasoline inside the vehicle alight, the spokesman said.

Police found gasoline, equipment full of gasoline, two knives and steel sticks as well as a flag with extremist religious content in the jeep.

Police have also found knives and at least one "jihad" flag in the temporary residence of the five detained suspects.

The suspects caught in connection with the incident are Husanjan Wuxur, Gulnar Tuhtiniyaz, Yusup Umarniyaz, Bujanat Abdukadir and Yusup Ahmat. According to the police spokesman, they admitted that they knew Usmen Hasan and helped conspire the plan and carry out the attack.

Police said that the other two people killed in the attack were tourists—one Philippine woman and one man from south China's Guangdong Province.

A further 40 people were injured during the attack, including three other Philippine tourists and one from Japan. All of them are receiving treatment in hospital.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on October 30 that China expresses its condolences to the victims, pledging to provide the necessary assistance to the relevant countries.

Further investigation into the case is under way.