Advertisement

Tibetan official shot dead in mountain ambush; police name suspected killer

Police are on the hunt for suspect and are offering a half a million yuan in bounty

Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
The terrain in Ganzi is steep and mountainous. Photo: Xinhua

A Tibetan official working for a “stability maintenance” office in the region was gunned down in an ambush, in what Sichuan police suspect was a revenge attack.

Advertisement

Zhang Wei, 36, was an official under the politics and law committee of Xinlong town in the Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in western Sichuan, Xinhua reported.

Zhang had taken a team to visit a remote mountain area where they were tasked to prevent a fight among local residents over the harvesting of a Chinese caterpillar fungus.

They spent 40 days in the area – which had no telecommunications access – starting in May, before returning from a farm on June 14.

Advertisement

On their way back, near the mountain, they were ambushed by gunmen. Zhang was shot dead.

loading
Advertisement