China executes eight for 'terrorist' attacks in Xinjiang

People walk along the sidewalk of Chang'an Avenue as smoke rises in front of the main entrance of the Forbidden City at Tiananmen Square in Beijing in this October 28, 2013 file photo. REUTERS/Stringer/Files

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China has executed eight people for "terrorist" attacks in its restive far western region of Xinjiang, including three who "masterminded" a dramatic car crash in the capital's Tiananmen Square in 2013, state media said.

Xinjiang is the traditional home of Muslim Uighurs who speak a Turkic language, and China has attributed attacks there to Islamist separatists it says seek to establish an independent state called East Turkestan.