One woman was killed and four were injured after they were taken hostage on Monday night in the basement of a building in Beijing.

The four were rescued after negotiations between police and the hostage-taker, the Beijing Times said yesterday.

The hostage-taker, surnamed Yuan, is a native of Xingtai City in Hebei Province, according to the newspaper report. The dead woman was Wang Xinyan.

All five victims, cleaners at a nearby China Construction Bank branch, lived in one room in the basement of a building in Haidian District, the report said.

A neighbor told the newspaper she heard a woman screaming for help about 7:30 pm on Monday and called the police. Police arrived and negotiated with the man for four hours before they were able to take him into custody.

A robbery attempt at the same room was foiled by police on Saturday night. It was not clear whether the two incidents were connected.

(Shanghai Daily October 22, 2008)