Historical eventOctober 282013

2013 Tiananmen Square attack

Five people are killed and 38 are injured after a car crashes into barriers at Tiananmen Square in China.

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In context

When
Monday, October 28 201313 years ago
Category
Historical eventA dated happening — a battle, treaty, launch, discovery, disaster or decision — recorded on this calendar day.
Era
21st century · 2010s
Recorded from
Wikipedia “On this day” feed

At a glance

Dates: From 2013-10-28.

Place: Tiananmen Square, People's Republic of China.

Type: suicide attack.

Deaths reported: 5. Casualties: 38.

What happened

Incident A 4×4 vehicle crashed into a crowd and burst into flames near the portrait of Mao Zedong at Tiananmen Square . [ 1 ] Two tourists, identified as a woman from the Philippines and a male Chinese citizen from Guangdong , were killed during the attack. All three people inside the car were also killed. [ 2 ] Thirty-eight other people were injured. [ 1 ] Witnesses at the scene said that the driver involved in the incident was honking its horn at pedestrians.

Investigation Chinese police later issued a notice to Beijing hotels seeking information about two people from China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. [ 1 ] The notice described a vehicle and four Xinjiang number plates. [ 1 ] They also instructed hotels to be aware of "suspicious" guests. [ 2 ] The police notice also required hotels to report all guests who had registered since 1 October, and the cars they had driven.

Reaction A BBC camera crew was briefly detained by police after taking footage of the attack. Coverage in the Chinese state media largely downplayed the incident, with only brief reports. [ 1 ] Although such associations were made in English-language media, Chinese-language publications did not link the incident to Xinjiang. [ 2 ] Chinese internet users also reposted and spread photographs of the incident. [ 3 ] Six days after the attack, General Peng Yong ,

On 28 October 2013, a car ran over pedestrians and crashed in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, China, in a terrorist suicide attack. Five people died in the incident; three inside the vehicle and two others nearby. Police identified the driver as Usmen Hasan and the two passengers as his wife, Gulkiz Gini, and his mother, Kuwanhan Reyim. An additional 38 people were injured.

October 28 through the years

Other entries on the same calendar day, in order.

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  7. 20132013 Tiananmen Square attack
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Everything we record for 2013 →

Sources

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“2013 Tiananmen Square attack”, What's On This Date, https://whatsonthisdate.com/app/event/2013-tiananmen-square-attack-2013-october-28, accessed October 25, 2026.

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Questions about this entry

When did 2013 Tiananmen Square attack happen?

October 28 2013 — 13 years ago, on a Monday.

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