Six killed in knife attack outside kindergarten in China
Six people were killed and another was wounded after a man with a knife attacked them outside a kindergarten in China.
The incident occurred in Lianjiang, a city in the southeastern Guangdong province, around 7:40 a.m. local time Monday, police said in a statement. The suspect, whose surname is Wu, was apprehended around 8 a.m.
One of the people killed was a teacher at the kindergarten and a witness said the 25-year-old attacker’s child was struck by a car driven by one of the victims, according to Dafeng News.
The state-run newspaper Global Times said the casualties included two parents and three children.
Police described the attack as an “intentional assault” but did not provide a possible motive.
The government is suppressing full details of the attack in order to discourage copy-cat attacks, according to BBC News.
Violent crime is considered rare in China, but stabbings at schools have become more frequent.
Last year, a knife-wielding assailant broke into a kindergarten in southeastern Jiangxi province, killing three and wounding six. A similar attack outside a kindergarten in Xifeng, a town in the province of Guangxi, in 2021 left two children dead and 16 others injured. A 2020 attack in southern China’s Cangwu County left 39 kids injured.
There have been at least 10 knife attacks at Chinese schools since 2018, according to the BBC News.
Since 2010, Chinese authorities have increased security around schools and implemented emergency evacuation drills.
With News Wire Services
