Hostage-taker shot dead in S China

GUANGZHOU - Police in South China's Guangdong province shot and killed a man who took a child hostage on Saturday morning.

The incident happened at about 7 am, when a knife-wielding man allegedly took a girl hostage in the Huadu district of Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong, according to the city's public security bureau.

Police said the man demanded to be taken via police vehicle to an area near the Guangzhou railway station. Police shot the man after he was spotted assaulting the girl with a knife.

The injured girl was rescued and is undergoing an operation at a local hospital. An investigation into the incident is under way.

The incident was the second instance of hostage-taking to occur in China this summer. On July 19, police shot and killed a man who took a female security officer hostage at a subway station in Beijing.