China kindergarten stabbing: six people including three children killed in knife attack in Lianjiang town

Six people including three children have been killed in a kindergarten stabbing in China’s south-eastern Guangdong province.

Police have confirmed they have arrested a 25-year-old man with the surname Wu in Lianjiang town.

The attack happened on Monday (10 July) at 7.40am local time (11.40pm Sunday GMT) and the man was arrested at 8am, a city government spokesperson said.

The victims are three children, a teacher and two parents with one person also injured, AFP reported quoting a local city official.

A store owner who works near the kindergarten told the BBC the area surrounding the kindergarten has been sealed off.

An unverified video has been making rounds on social media showing two of the victims in a pool of blood outside of the school.

Chinese citizens took to the social media platform Weibo to express their shock over the mass stabbing incident. At around 12.20pm local time, the attack was the top-trending discussion on the social media platform with 130 million views.

It comes after China has been struggling with mass stabbings targeting students and schools in recent years.

The attacks have forced authorities to step up security and urged calls for more research into the root causes of these violent attacks. Last August three people were killed and six others wounded in a knife attack at a kindergarten in southeast China’s Jiangxi province.

In April 2021, two children died while 16 others were injured during a mass stabbing in Beiliu City, in China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.