Axe attacker kills four on street in central China

Young girl among dead as latest in string of violent assaults in public places fuels concern over mental illness and stress A man with an axe has attacked children and parents walking on a city street in central China, killing four people and wounding two, according to a local official. Villagers have identified the perpetrator of the attack, on the outskirts of the city of Gongyi, as a local farmer with a history of mental illness, the city government spokesman said. He said one young girl was among those killed while another was seriously wounded when the alleged assailant, Wang Hongbin, began attacking people on a main street in Gongyi’s Shecun township at about 8.40am. The spokesman said Wang had been detained but gave no other details. Gongyi is in the heavily populated Henan province, in China’s grain belt. A string of attacks at schools, retirement homes and on city streets in China has left dozens of people dead and scores more wounded since the start of 2010. Last month, a worker slashed children with a knife at a daycare centre for migrant workers in eastern China, wounding eight of them. Reports said the female attacker had suffered a “psychotic episode”. In one of the worst attacks, seven children and two adults were killed at a kindergarten in the north of the country in May last year. While seemingly unrelated, the attacks have prompted calls for more attention to serious mental illnesses and concern over rising stress levels in Chinese society. Assailants in most attacks were mentally unstable, bore grudges against their victims or were angry over personal failures. Schools around China boosted security last year, with more guards at entrances. China guardian.co.uk

Posted by on September 14, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.