Man arrested after 19 bodies found in Chinese village

BEIJING (AP) — A suspect was arrested Thursday following the discovery of 19 dead bodies in six homes in a southwestern Chinese village, police and state media said.

Police in Yunnan province identified the "major criminal suspect" as Yang Qingpei. It said he came from the same village in Huize county where the "criminal case" occurred earlier Thursday, but didn't give any details on how the deaths took place.

Police said the suspect was arrested in the provincial capital of Kunming, about 200 kilometers (120 miles) from where the bodies were found.

The official Xinhua News Agency said the dead included men, women and three children.

Xinhua described the deaths as a killing spree but provided no details. If they were murders, the deaths would be one of the bloodiest mass slayings in China in recent years.

Because firearms are tightly controlled in China, mass attacks are usually carried out with knives, poison or homemade explosives.