Two knife-wielding stowaways shot dead in south China

Chinese police shot and killed two stowaways who attacked them with knives late Sunday in southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, local authorities said Monday.

Police found a group of five stowaways at about 8:20 p.m. in Guangxi's Pingxiang City, which borders Vietnam, but they resisted being captured by assailing the police with knives.

Two of them were shot dead, two others were apprehended and one another is still on the run, local police said, adding that a manhunt has been launched.

The Ministry of Public Security waged a special campaign on cracking down on organized human smuggling activities in April last year in the country's southwestern border regions, as such cases had been on the rise in those regions since the beginning of last year.

To date, police have busted 262 human smuggling cases, seizing 352 suspects who allegedly organized such activities and 852 suspects who attempted to cross the border illegally. Endi