According to Chinese government sources, it was a terrorist attack perpetrated by two men with suspected ties to the Uyghur separatist movement.

One of the men drove a dump truck into a group of border patrol police officers as they were jogging on a street.

[8][9] The attackers were identified as males, taxi driver Kurbanjan Hemit (28), and vegetable vendor Abdurahman Azat (33).

[10] They are members of the Uyghur ethnic group, and it was suspected that the attack was a terrorist action by ETIM separatists.

[14] A US intelligence monitoring group stated that the ETIM planned to carry out terrorist attacks during the week before the opening ceremonies of the Olympic games.

[18] Chinese officials and police in Kashgar apologized for the incident, but accused the two men of breaking rules.