Police in northwest China have shot and killed a knife-wielding man who was holding six saleswomen hostage in a grocery store robbery.

All the women were freed uninjured after the ordeal, which lasted more than three hours, but one woman was taken to hospital to be treated for psychological trauma, said police in Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Xiong Dali, political instructor with the patrol police detachment of Urumqi City Security Bureau, said the young man came into the downtown store on Xingfu Road, pretending he wanted to do some shopping at 12:30 a.m. on Thursday when the store was about to close.

At 1 a.m., when the staff asked him to leave, the man suddenly brought out the knife, yelling at the staff to kneel on the floor and to hand over all their cash and cell phones.

While one saleswoman tried to reason with the man, he noticed people gathering outside the glass door so he grabbed a woman and put the knife at her throat.

A mother, who originally went to pick up her saleswoman daughter, called the police.

Li Gang, leader of the third team of the patrol police, said they dispatched patrol police and special police to the scene. They tried to persuade the man by phone to release the women.

During the negotiations, four of the hostages were freed through the back door of the store while the man was distracted.

A professional negotiator went into the store to talk with the man and persuaded him to release another woman through the front door, but he insisted on holding the last staff member.

Later, he became agitated and piled towels on the counter, shouting he would burn down the store and kill the woman.

The police shot and killed the man at 4:10 a m., said Li.

The man had identified himself to the negotiator as Yang Xinjiang, born in Ili, Xinjiang. He said his ancestral home was in Sichuan Province and his parents were divorced.

An investigation found no records of Yang Xinjiang and police believed the name was fabricated. His identity was still officially unknown, said a police spokesman.

(Xinhua News Agency October 9, 2008)