SINGAPORE - A 26 year-old man was arrested in his home on Thursday morning after an hour-long standoff with police and Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) officers.

The man had earlier been seen by neighbours using a hard object to attack his mother, Chinese evening newspaper Shin Min Daily News reported. He then locked himself inside his home on the sixth floor of Block 606 Clementi West Street 1.

The police said they received a call for assistance at about 11.30pm on Wednesday night. Officers who responded "established that a case of voluntarily causing hurt with dangerous means had occurred". The man and a 60 year-old woman were both sent to the National University Hospital, after the standoff ended at about 1am.

Shin Min Daily News reported that neighbours earlier heard quarrelling in the unit. A woman in her 20s, believed to be the man's younger sister, was later seen crying and frantically waving her arms out of a window. Neigbours heard the woman shout: "Help call the police, my brother wants to kill my mother."

The two siblings and their parents were reported to be living together. Neighbours said loud quarrels were commonly heard from the unit.

The SCDF, which said it responded to a "rescue from height incident", dispatched a fire engine, a Red Rhino, two fire bikes, two ambulances and three support vehicles.

Police and SCDF officers gained entry into the man's home using breaking tools, while a second team of SCDF officers concurrently repelled into the unit, the SCDF said.

Investigations are ongoing.

If found guilty of voluntarily causing hurt with dangerous means, the man faces up to seven years in jail, and a fine, and caning.