Chinese police kill kidnapper, free hostages in Inner Mongolia attack
- Man armed with gun attaches explosives to three people in regional capital, police say
- Gun violence is rare in China, where firearm ownership is tightly controlled
Police in northern China shot and killed a man who held three people hostage using a home-made gun and explosive devices, authorities said on Monday.
The incident took place in Hohhot, capital of Inner Mongolia autonomous region, on Sunday at about 11am. The suspect, surnamed Zhou, had fired the gun as a threat, Hohhot police said on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like platform.
That evening, officers “decisively shot and killed the suspect” before removing the explosive devices from the hostages. The case was under investigation, police said.
There have been incidents in China involving home-made explosives, such as one in northeast Liaoning province, where three people were wounded in an attack on a police station in March.
In July 2018, a 26-year-old man set off a small explosion outside the United States embassy in Beijing, injuring his hand.