A 5-year-old girl was rescued after being held hostage for 10 hours by her uncle in Feixian County, east China's Shandong Province, in the wee hours of yesterday.

Sun Jing still ponders what had happened after being rescued by police early in the morning yesterday.

The suspect, surnamed Wang, lured his niece, Sun Jing, the victim, into his house at around 11 AM on Tuesday.

Wang threatened to hack the girl to death if the police came and claimed he would also commit a suicide, police said.

Police rushed to the scene and cordoned off the area shortly after Wang took the girl hostage.

The standoff ended after police shot teargas into the house, at which point an eight-member team raided the premises and subdued Wang.

Wang said his goal was to reunite with his wife and daughter, who left the family last year because of marital problems, according to local police.

(China Daily February 1, 2007)