Tiananmen Square, Beijing (Wikimedia Commons)

Police and tourists are among the 38 injured. The driver and two passengers in the jeep died in the crash.

The cause and intention of the crash is unknown. Police have evacuated and sealed off the entrance to Tiananmen Sqaure, parts of which reopened by late afternoon.

Tiananmen Square is known as one of China's most politically sensitive locations since June 4, 1989, when hundreds of pro-democracy protesters where killed by People's Liberation Army soldiers.

Pictures of the crash were posted online on social media sites but quickly deleted by internet censors.

Two reporters from Agence France Presse were detained on the scene and images deleted from their equipment.  BBC reporters on the scene were also briefly detained, according to the network.

See photos of the crash here.

Read more at The Telegraph.

Reach Executive Producer Syuzanna Petrosyan here. Follow her on Twitter.