Asia-Pacific

Woman injures 14 children in kindergarten knife attack in China

All children are receiving treatment in hospital, with some being placed on trolleys

Police officers are seen behind a cordon near the gate of a kindergarten where a woman armed with a kitchen knife attacked children, in Chongqing, China. Photograph: Reuters

Fri Oct 26 2018 - 12:34

A knife-wielding woman has injured 14 children at a nursery school in the western Chinese city of Chongqing, police said.

A 39-year-old woman was taken into custody and no motive for the assault was immediately released.

A report on the police force’s microblog said the attack at the Xinshiji Kindergarten, in the city’s outskirts, took place at 9.30am as the children were returning to classes.

It said all were receiving treatment in hospital. A doctor at Banan People’s Hospital confirmed the children were there but declined to give any details.

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No other information about the attacker was given, other than her surname, Liu.

Video posted on social media showed injured children walking to ambulances from the school gate, with some being placed on trolleys.

Grudges

China has suffered a number of such incidents in recent years, blamed largely on the mentally ill or people bearing grudges.

In June, a man used a kitchen knife to attack three boys and a mother near a school in Shanghai, killing two of the children. Police said the assailant was unemployed and carried out the attack "to take revenge on society".

Chinese law restricts the sale and possession of firearms, and mass attacks are generally carried out with knives or homemade explosives.

Almost 20 children were killed in school attacks in 2010, prompting a response from senior government officials and leading many schools to add gates and security guards. – AP

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