Xinjiang terrorist attack timeline

According to Beijing Police, the car is registered in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Located at China's far west with a population of 22 million, Xinjiang shares borders with Afghanistan and Pakistan. With a large Muslim presence, the region has been battling separatism and terrorism for decades.

Security experts worry that the growing religious extremism has fanned violent attacks in Xinjiang.

On June 26 this year, terrorists in Lukqun Township, Shanshan County in Xinjiang killed 2 policemen and 22 civilians. Eleven of the attackers were also killed.

Two months before that, a confrontation between terrorists and authorities in Kashgar's Bachu County left 15 community workers and police officers dead.

On June 29, 2012, six people tried to hijack a plane in Xinjiang. At least ten people were injured in the fight with hijackers.

And on February 28, 2012, a group of assailants with knives went on a killing spree on Xingfu Walking Street in Yecheng county of Kashgar. Fifteen civilians were hacked to death and a further 14 were injured.

The most serious atrocity in decades happened on July 5, 2009. At least a hundred and ninty-seven people were killed and about 1,700 others injured, when riots erupted in the regional capital of Urumqi.