(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-08-07 16:51

URUMQI - Police have arrested a young man in connection with the murders of five children aged two to 13 in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

The four boys and a girl were found dead on Sunday afternoon in the home of a man surnamed Ma in Ha'ermaodun Village, Sikeshu Township, Usu City, Tacheng Prefecture, a spokesman of the Xinjiang Regional Department of Public Security said.

The children were the offspring of Ma and his two younger sisters, the spokesman said.

Ma and his wife went to a market about three kilometers away to buy vegetables, leaving the children alone at home when the killings occurred at about 1:40 p.m., he said.

Initial investigations show that Ma Jun, husband of one of senior Ma's two younger sisters, was allegedly involved in the killings, and police then began searching for Ma Jun who had disappeared, he said.

Police found Ma Jun at the railway station in Hami Prefecture at about 8:00 p.m. on Monday, he said.

Ma Jun, 23, from the Tuositu Village of Usu's Hatubuhu Township, had allegedly confessed to murdering the children after a family dispute, the spokesman said.

Police are continuing their investigations.