3 hostages saved by police
30/11/2008 11:00
Chinese police subdued kidnappers in three cities yesterday and Friday,
killing two and arresting another. No hostages were lost in the three
incidents.
One of the kidnaps began at 2:30am on Friday at a construction
site in Beijing. A man, surnamed Zhang, held another man with a knife,
threatening to kill him and set fire to houses on a construction site.
He
also attacked police and fire fighters who tried to get close to him, wounding
two police officers. Police fired warning shots before they shot the man and
rescued the hostage.
Zhang, a 35-year-old from northeastern Jilin
Province, was wounded by the gunfire and sent to hospital where he is now
receiving medical treatment. An investigation is underway and no further details
are available.
The second kidnap occured in Dalian, a port city in
Liaoning Province, where police received a phone call at 9:15am on Friday and
rushed to a public bath house where a waitress was being held with a knife by a
45-year-old, surnamed Ma.
After negotiating with police and a journalist,
Ma surrendered at about 11am.
Police said Ma had served jail terms
totaling 17 years for theft, fraud and robbery, but gave no details about the
kidnap motivation.
The third incident took place yesterday in Kunming,
southwest Yunnan Province. Police shot dead a knife-wielding man who injured
three people when he started hacking customers and took another hostage in a
local Carrefour store during a four-hour stand-off.
The hostage, a nurse
sent to treat the injured, was rescued unharmed, a police spokesman
said.
The injured victims, two customers and a salesperson, were being
treated in hospital and one is in critical condition.
The dead kidnapper,
39-year-old Lu Zhiwen, was believed to be distraught about a failed love affair.
"He threatened to kill the hostage if his girlfriend did not go to the store to
see him," the police spokesman said.
"Police had to shoot him to save the
life of the hostage when the nurse was put in great danger," he
said.
Xinhua
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