The suspected killer of four university students in southwest China was captured Monday night in the island province of Hainan, local police announced. Police have been searching for the Yunnan University student since February 23.

Ma Jiajue, suspected of bludgeoning four fellow Yunnan University students to death, was seized in the Hexi District of Sanya City, Hainan Province, at about 7:30 pm Monday. He is currently being interrogated by local police, said a spokesman for the Sanya City Bureau of Public Security. No description of Ma's capture was provided.

Ma, 23, was listed as the chief suspect by the Ministry of Public Security in the killings of four students at a university residence hall in southwest China's Yunnan Province on February 23.

He was born in Binyang County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and was a student of biochemistry at Yunnan University.

On March 1, the Ministry of Public Security issued an urgent appeal for information leading to Ma's arrest, offering a 200,000 yuan (US$24,300) reward.

The victims were found dead in the Yunnan University dormitory on February 23. All the bodies appeared to have been beaten with a blunt metal object.

Ma told police he killed them to seek revenge after having quarrels with them.

He told police that he had maintained fairly good relations with the four slain students, but he decided to gain revenge after he had quarrels with three of them. He killed one a day for four consecutive days.

(Xinhua News Agency March 16, 2004)