According to Xinhua News Agency,?a?tax official and his three family members were murdered Monday afternoon in their home in Hezhou, a city in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The local taxation bureau affirmed the news later in the evening.

Zhou Zixiong, 44, head of the Hejie Street branch bureau of the State Administration of Taxation in the Babu District, was found dead in his home at about 2:14 p.m., the public security bureau of Hezhou city said in a statement.

Zhou's wife Ling Xiaoyun, 47, and their 16-year-old daughter and 15-year-old son were also found dead, according to the statement.

The insiders from the local taxation bureau said, Zhou's mother and the nanny survived because they went to the market to buy some vegetables at that time.

The statement did not specify how the four were killed.

Police are investigating the murder case.