CHANGSHA - Police in Central China have arrested a Buddhist monk suspected of killing three females, including his alleged girlfriend and a 14-year-old girl, in two separate incidents this year, local police officials said Thursday.

The suspect, who is only identified by his surname Liu, was apprehended by local police late October in Ningxiang county, Hunan province.

Liu confessed to the murder charges, police officials said.

An initial probe shows that Liu had maintained a secret romantic relationship with someone he met through online chatting in 2004, a year after he became a Buddhist monk. Following a fight in March this year, Liu used a knife to kill the 25-year-old woman he had met online as well as his sister.

Liu fled his residence in a temple in Hubei Province and took refuge in a temple in Hunan province. After seven months, Liu quarrelled with the abbot and, in a rage, strangled the abbot's 14-year-old female relative and fled, police said.

The abbot reported the incident to police, and Liu was listed as a wanted suspect by the Ministry of Public Security shortly before he was apprehended.