okay so according to the AP the people in the car were a a husband his wife and either his or her mother. This is odd as it does not conform to the classic suicide bomber. As they tend to be clinically depressed suicidal individuals lured into the act with the promise of paradise for there martyrdom. To be honest alot about the attack seems a little of the mark. I mean terrorist couldn't give a flying .... For symbolic attacks they want body count. The west gate was text book terrorism a enclosed shopping mall, lots of people few exits. The forbidden city although a tourist trap is to open and if you wanted to attack the Chinese why hit a tourist trap? Your more likely to end up like what happened lots of non Chinese. Its amateur. The whole thing seems off.
The wife and mother-in-law could be live cover so the vehicle was not stopped and searched on its long drive from Xinjiang to Beijing.
There is zero support for Xinjiang terrorists outside of Xinjiang, so the bomb would have had to be carries in the SUV all the way from whatever base these people had in Xinjiang. An SUV with Xinjiang plates and a long male drive may raise suspicious and get pulled over and searched long before it reached Beijing. A family traveling together will raise far few red flags.
I have also never heard of your interpretation about terrorists only caring about body count and don't 'give a flying...' About symbolism.
Terrorism's primary purpose is to make a political statement, and symbolism is everything. The higher profile the target, the more the terrorists advance their cause. Body count is one way to raise the profile of their attack to gain publicity, but hitting a famous landmark works just as good, if not better. Just think back to the IRA days, or ETA attacks, which are often characterised by bombs being planted in famous/public places with a warning phoned in before the bomb was set to detonate for the authorities can clear the area of civilians. Those were all terrorists attacks, but had zero body count.
Attacks designed to cause maximum casualties are often associated with jihadi terrorism, but really only took off as part of sectarian violence in Iraq. It's not really a typical terrorist goal because even Al-Q attacks typically favor high profile targets over just causing the maximum body count.
9/11 was pack with famous landmarks targets, the Times Square bombing attempt was also targeting the place as much as the people, with a similar theme to the Boston Marathon bombing.
This attack was aimed at Tiananmen Square because the location is famous enough to draw international attention, and also because the highway running in from of it allow them easy access with zero local support.
