LANZHOU, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- A man convicted of killing 11 women was executed Thursday in northwest China's Gansu Province, local authorities said.

Gao Chengyong, 53, killed 11 women between May 1988 and February 2002 in Gansu Province and neighboring Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Gao killed the victims after committing a series of robberies and rapes in the city of Baiyin in Gansu and the city of Baotou in Inner Mongolia.

Police had been hunting the criminal for 28 years until one of Gao's relatives committed a crime and underwent DNA testing in 2015, which led to his arrest in August 2016.

He was sentenced to death by the Intermediate People's Court of Baiyin City on March 30.

Gao's death sentence has been reviewed and approved by the Supreme People's Court, the country's top court.