Three killed, six injured in kindergarten stabbing rampage
A man has been arrested after three people were killed and another six were injured in a horrific attack at a kindergarten in China.
A “gangster wearing a cap and mask” stormed the private kindergarten in the country's southeastern province of Jiangxi at around 10am on Wednesday (local time), police said.
The suspect, who has been named by police as 48-year-old Liu Xiaohui, allegedly stormed the Children’s Home in Anfu County, according to the South China Morning Post.
It’s been reported that the alleged attacker used a knife to stab several children.
While The Global Times claims that three people have been killed and six others injured, staff at a nearby hospital told Hongxing News about 10 children had been rushed in for treatment, “some of which had died”.
Footage taken by witnesses after the brutal attack shows a police officer carrying what appears to be an injured young boy from the kindergarten to an ambulance.
A large crowd can be seen standing behind crime scene tape as officers block the building’s entrance.
“After committing the crime, [the suspect] escaped and threw away his cap, mask and bag,” police said in a statement, the South China Morning Post reports.
A frantic manhunt was launched after the attack, with investigators offering 100,000 yuan (A$21,265) for any information that led to the suspect’s arrest.
Mr Xiaohui is now in police custody, the Xinhau News Agency reported late on Wednesday.
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School security increased after 'lone wolf' attacks
China has upgraded security at schools following a spate of deadly attacks in recent years, attributed largely to people bearing grudges against society or who had unidentified mental illnesses.
The country does not allow private gun ownership, so most such attacks are carried out with knives, homemade explosives or petrol bombs.
Around 100 children and adults have been killed and hundreds injured over the past decade in apparently uncoordinated, ‘lone wolf’ attacks in which the motive was unclear.
The overwhelmingly male assailants were either killed, ended their lives or were put on trial and executed.
Acts of violence against China’s youth resonate especially strongly due to the country’s chronically low birth rate, partly due to decades of population control policies.
With AP
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