Knifeman kills 3 children in China school attack

BEIJING, China – A knifeman stabbed 3 children to death and wounded 5 more plus a teacher in a rampage at a Chinese primary school on Monday, September 1, reports said, in the country’s latest attack against youngsters.

The attacker killed himself by jumping from a building following the carnage at a school in Shiyan in the central province of Hubei, according to the official news agency Xinhua.

The 6 wounded have been hospitalised, it said, adding two were seriously hurt.

The man, surnamed Chen, “died on the spot”, Xinhua said without providing further details.

He carried out the attack “because he couldn’t enrol his child” at the school, local broadcaster Shiyan Television said on its verified Sina Weibo account, China’s version of Twitter, without elaborating.

A local police official declined to provide information, saying: “I am not clear, the police bureau officials are at that school investigating.”

Monday was the first day of the new school year in many parts of China.

Xinhua said it was not immediately known how Chen entered the premises, adding: “Security at many schools has been tightened after a spate of attacks on children in recent years.”

They include five incidents in 2010 that killed 17 people – 15 of them children – and wounded more than 80.

Last March a man killed two relatives and then slashed 11 people, including six children, outside a school in China’s commercial hub Shanghai.

Earlier this summer police in Qianjing — which is near Shiyan — killed a suspect who was attempting to take over a primary school, state media said. – Rappler.com