Reward offered for killer of Xinlong official

Police in the Ganzi Tibetan autonomous prefecture, Sichuan province, have offered a reward of 500,000 yuan ($80,248) for any institution or individual providing information leading to the arrest of a Tibetan man suspected of killing a county official.

Zhang Wei, deputy chief of the stability safeguarding office under the county's politics and law committee, was shot dead by a gunman on Zara Mountain in the prefecture's Xinlong county on Saturday afternoon.

"He was on the way home in the county seat of Xinlong after he had worked for more than 40 days at the juncture of Xinlong and Lixian counties," said a woman employee with the county politics and law committee.

From early May to mid-June, Zhang, a 36-year-old Tibetan, led a group of law enforcers working at an alpine pasture at the juncture to ensure no disputes arose among people digging for caterpillar fungi, which are a major source of income for local Tibetans.

Police suspect a 35-year-old Tibetan resident of the village of Langzhu, in Tongxiao township, Xinlong, of the shooting.

Before Zhang started working in the county's politics and law committee two years ago, he was a policeman. A well-informed source said Zhang once arrested a relative of the suspect for being involved in a criminal act. To take revenge, the suspect ambushed Zhang, shot him and escaped, the source said.

The suspect speaks Tibetan with a strong Xinlong accent and speaks a little Chinese with a Sichuan accent, according to the arrest warrant issued by police in the county.