A police chief in northern China gunned down his superior in revenge before killing himself, sources with the local government told Xinhua on Thursday.

Wang Zhiping, then deputy Party secretary of Hohhot, capital of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, was found dead in his office from gunshot wounds on February 5, said Wang Xinle, deputy head of the regional public security department.

Police believed the killer Guan Liuru, former public security head of the city's Ruyi development zone, also killed Wang Ying, a female local tax official who happened to be in the office, before killing himself.

Police said Guan tried to vent his unfounded resentment towards Wang Zhiping, and he falsely confused personnel decisions with personal woes.

In 2004, Wang endorsed a decision to mete out a "grave warning" to Guan for mishandling a case. In October last year, Guan was deprived of the post as the development zone's police chief.

The Ministry of Public Security has sent a work team to Hohhot to investigate.

(Xinhua News Agency February 15, 2008)