An Islamist militant group calling itself the Turkestan Islamic Party said last month's deadly car crash in Beijing's Tiananmen Square was a "jihadi operation" by holy warriors, the US-based SITE monitoring service said.

The service, which tracks Islamist militant statements, says the party released an eight-minute video online showing the organisation's leader Abdullah Mansour speaking in Uighur with his face obscured.

"Chinese unbelievers, know that you have been fooling East Turkestan for the last 60 years, but now they have awakened," Mansour said.

"The people have learned who the real enemy is and they have returned to their own religion."

Three Xinjiang Uighurs drove a car loaded with petrol canisters into the gate of the Forbidden City on October 28, Chinese police say.

The incident left two people dead, besides the three in the car, and 40 injured.

China had previously stated that the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) were the "behind-the-scenes supporters" of the terrorist attack.

Some security analysts believe the Turkestan Islamic Party is the parent of the East Turkestan Independence Movement, a group that China and the United States have placed on terror lists. Others say both names refer to the same group.

The stated goals of the Turkestan Islamic Party is to secure the independence of "East Turkestan", located in the far north west of China's Xinjiang province, with a population of mostly muslim Uighurs.

It was unclear if the video posted online includes an explicit claim of responsibility, and there has been no mention of it in Chinese state media.

AFP / Reuters / ABC