A man armed with a knife stabbed eight boys to death as they slept in a dormitory after breaking into a high school in central China, the government said today.
Police were searching for the man following the attack late yesterday at school in the city of Ruzhou, which also injured four students, the official Xinhua News Agency said. It didn't give a possible motive but said police believe they have a description.
The attacker broke into the dormitory and "chopped eight people to death and injured four," Xinhua said. It had said earlier that the attack in central China took place this morning.
No one was available for comment at the Ruzhou police headquarters. It was the fourth knife attack reported since August at a Chinese school or day-care centre. The earlier assaults left one child dead and a total of 42 people injured.
The reason for the surge in knife assaults isn't clear. But the spate of violence prompted the government of President Hu Jintao to issue a nationwide order in September for schools to hire guards and tighten security.
Newspapers in Beijing say schools in the Chinese capital have begun to post guards, but it wasn't clear whether any additional security was in place at the school in Ruzhou.