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3 Chinese police officers killed in rare shootout
Three police officers were killed by two murder suspects in a shootout after the latter embarked on a carjacking spree in eastern China.
The incident is one of the few rare cases of gun violence in a country where private firearms ownership is illegal.
Two civilians and four police officers were also wounded in the shootout in Tai'an city in the eastern coastal province of Shandong.
The suspects hijacked four cars in a row, shooting two of the drivers, before they were rammed by a squad car in pursuit at the time, the China Daily newspaper said.
Three officers died in the shootout with the gunmen, who were armed with a handmade pistol and a double-barreled shotgun. One of the suspects shot himself to death while another was taken into custody.
The paper said the men were suspects in a killing a month ago in nearby Dezhou city and had been hiding at the apartment of a relative in Tai'an.
China has little gun crime but has seen a rise in the black-market trade of smuggled and homemade weapons, prompting a nationwide crackdown last year on illegal firearms.
