China holds man for killing wife and eight relatives

BEIJING - Chinese police have detained a man for killing his wife and eight members of her family, the oldest aged 88 and the youngest a 7-year-old, state media said on Tuesday.

He Xiangyue surrendered to police with his 4-year-old daughter on Sunday after killing the nine people, including two girls and two boys, in a village near Yibin in the central province of Sichuan, the Beijing News reported.

"All victims had several knife wounds in their heads and bodies," a witness was quoted by the paper as saying. "The four children died with their small hands holding their heads or with their fists tightly clenched. "

The newspaper said that He's wife had left him last year but had returned a week before the murders.

Chinese newspapers, unrestrained by Western-style contempt of court laws, often quote police confirming guilt or a confession before a defendant has been charged or the case has gone to court.

In 2003, China executed one of the worst serial killers in its history, a man who murdered 67 people and raped two dozen women over four years.

- REUTERS