China: Man stabs ten schoolchildren before killing himself

Ten pupils have been wounded in a knife attack in China.

None of them suffered life-threatening injuries, but two were seriously hurt in Monday’s attack.

Police described it as a “vicious” attack “brought on by extreme actions”.

The Reuters news service reports that the man stabbed six boys and four girls outside a school in the city of Haikou.

Violent crime is rare in China compared with many other countries, but there have been a series of knife and axe attacks in recent years, many targeting children.

Police cordoned off the site where blood and items belonging to students, such as shoes, were seen on the ground, hinews.cn reported.

Three injured students were sent to the Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical University where they received medical treatment, hinews.cn reported.

The assailant was identified as 45-year-old Li Sijun, who later committed suicide, reports said, adding no motive had been determined. Footage from the scene shows him lying in a lane about 30 metres from the school, unconscious.

Numerous attacks have been carried out in the last few years by such people on primary school children.

The attacker later killed himself.

An official at Haikou’s Longhu police station declined to give further details and said the case was under investigation.

In March 2014, more than five people were killed in a knife attack at a market in the south-central city of Changsha in an apparent dispute between vendors.