Tiananmen crash 'was attack'

Security around Tiananmen Square was tightened a day after a car ploughed into pedestrians and burst into flames.

Sources say Chinese authorities suspect a suicide attack although there's been no official word.

Five people died - three inside the vehicle and two tourists.

At Tongren Hospital in Beijing some of the 38 wounded described what happened.

(SOUNDBITE)(Mandarin) HU YANBIN, TOURIST, SAYING:

"It's hard to explain. The car seemed to just appear, nobody noticed it. We were standing there and suddenly it came towards us. Luckily I just moved a step to the side and the car rushed past. Later it seemed to be on fire. Only when we were far away did I look back and saw that it was on fire, then the police all came over."

Security checks were evident further afield in Beijing on Tuesday in the wake of the incident.

About a dozen police checked the identity of the passengers of every car passing through the checkpoint on the city's border wi