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July 8, 2011

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Machete man holds Malaysia class hostage

A MAN carrying a machete barged into a Malaysian kindergarten and held children and teachers hostage for six tense hours yesterday before police shot him in the head. Police said the 30 children and four teachers were not harmed.

During negotiations with the man, he threatened to kill the children unless he was given a gun, a police officer said.

The children had been heard singing in what was believed to be an attempt to calm the man, the Bernama news agency reported. The unidentified man was in hospital in critical condition after sustaining a single bullet wound to the head, said Jalaluddin Abdul Rahman, deputy police chief in southern Johor state.

"All the 30 children, aged between 3 and 5 years, and their four teachers are safe," he said.

Another officer said the man was wielding a machete and a hammer when he barged into the kindergarten in a residential area in Johor early in the morning, sparking a standoff with police.

The man, believed to have mental problems, forced the hostages to go upstairs in the two-story building. Police special forces later managed to enter the ground floor and were heading up the stairs when the man attacked them with his weapons and a fire extinguisher, the officer said.

Police had no choice but to shoot the man, he said, adding they were investigating his identity.


 

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