The suspected perpetrator, a 25-year-old man, has been arrested. The police do not yet know the motive of the act.
At least six people have been killed and one injured in an attack at a kindergarten in China.
A 25-year-old man armed with a bladed weapon attacked a kindergarten in Lianjiang City, Guangdong Province, in the southern part of the country. The attack happened before 8 am local time.
One of the dead is a kindergarten employee, two are the children’s parents and three are children.
The man has been arrested. According to the police, the act was premeditated, but the exact motive has not been disclosed so far.
In recent years, there have been several similar attacks on kindergartens and schools in China.
For example, last August, an attacker armed with a knife killed three and wounded six at a kindergarten in Jiangxi province.
In April 2021, a knifeman who broke into a kindergarten killed two and wounded 16 people in the Guangxi Autonomous Region. In June 2020, a school attack injured 37 children and two adults in Suzhou, Guangxi Autonomous Region.
Security measures for kindergartens and schools were increased in 2010
Chinese authorities already ordered increased security measures at schools and kindergartens in 2010, when the country was rocked by a series of attacks.
In May 2010, seven children and two adults were killed and 11 injured after a man armed with an ax broke into a kindergarten in Hanzhong City, Shaanxi Province.
In April 2010, a man attacked a kindergarten in the city of Taixing in Jiangsu province, injuring 29 children and three workers. Just a day earlier, China had been shocked by a stabbing at a school, in which 15 children and one teacher were wounded.
In March 2010, an attacker stabbed eight children and wounded five others in Fujian province.
Sources: AFP, Reuters