A man armed with two kitchen knives bargains with police after he took two children hostage in a fifth-floor classroom of a children's center in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province August 17, 2004. Patrol police, SWAT team and firefighters rushed to the site for rescue operations. After a two-hour negotiation, police had to shoot the kidnapper when he was on the verge of hurting the hostage children. The two children were rescued unhurt and the kidnapper, identified as Zhang Kailin and in his 30s, fell to the ground and was rushed to hospital for treatment. It is reported Zhang, from southwest China's Guizhou Province, asked for 2,500 yuan [US$300] as travel expenses to see his relatives in Shandong, and later demanded for a gun and took one of the hostages with him. The case is still under further investigation. (Yanzhao Metropolis Daily)

A man armed with two kitchen knives bargains with police after he took two children hostage in a fifth-floor classroom of a children's center in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province August 17, 2004. (Yanzhao Metropolis Daily)

A policeman gets close to the kidnapper from the next door. (Yanzhao Metropolis Daily)

A policeman takes aim at the kidnapper when the man was trying to hurt a boy hostage in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province August 17. (Yanzhao Metropolis Daily)

A SWAT police fires when the kidnapper was to hurt a boy hostage with knife. (Yanzhao Metropolis Daily)

The kidnapper falls off from the fifth floor window after he was shot by a policeman. (Yanzhao Metropolis Daily)

The kidnapper, shot and injured, lies on the ground and was immediately sent to a hospital for treatment. (Yanzhao Metropolis Daily)

A child hostage is carried out of the building. The child was unhurt and was too much frightened. (Yanzhao Metropolis Daily)

Firefighters prepare an air cushion on the ground as a precautionary measure in case the hostages fall from the fifth floor. (Yanzhao Metropolis Daily)