YINCHUAN - A man was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly murdering his wife and six other family members in Northwest China's Ningxia Hui autonomous region earlier this month.

The Pengyang County People's Procuratorate approved the arrest of the suspect, Ma Yongdong, on Wednesday afternoon, and local police arrested him later in the day.

Ma was detained on October 18 in the city of Wuzhong and sent to Pengyang county the next day, according to the public security bureau of Pengyang, where the tragedy happened.

Ma confessed to killing his wife, his parents in-law, grandparents in-law and two nieces aged three and one in their home in Wengou village of Pengyang after he had an argument with his wife, according to the police.