Man arrested in slayings of 5 villagers, including 3 children, in central China

BEIJING, China – Police in central China said Thursday they had arrested a man over the slaying of five villagers, including three young children.

A suspect surnamed Liu was detained Wednesday night, the Ganzhou city police department said on its microblog. It said victims were two elderly people and three children, including a pair of twins, who were slain Monday evening in a village outside Ganzhou, which is in Jiangxi province.

Liu and the victims were neighbours and had been locked in a property dispute, the police said.

Such incidents are not uncommon in China, and often are blamed on culprits deemed mentally unstable or who bear grudges against society. The elderly and children are particularly vulnerable in rural areas because working-age parents often leave them on their own in order to seek better paying jobs in cities far away.