A pre-school child was among four persons killed when an axe-wielding man, believed to be mentally unsound, went on a rampage in a central China city, in what is being regarded as a social revenge attack.
A preschooler girl and three adults have been confirmed dead in the attack in Zhengzhou in the Henan province.
The other two are severely injured, according to a spokesman with the city government.
ADVERTISEMENT
Police have detained the man, identified as Wang Hongbin, a 30-year-old local farmer who is believed to be mentally ill, official Xinhua reported.
This is the second such attack after August 30, when a woman went on a slashing spree with a blunt ruler, injuring eight pre-school children at a nursery school.
The woman, a nursery worker at the school at a pre-school slashed five boys and three girls with a self-made steel ruler. She was subsequently arrested.
ADVERTISEMENT
The frequency of such attacks, stated to be carried out by frustrated persons, increased since last year, when some men walked into schools and targeted children with blunt weapons.
A number of attackers have been given death sentences as a deterrent punishment.
As the copy cat attacks spread in the country, the Chinese government ordered high security in schools besides asking the official media to tone down the coverage of such incidents to prevent frustrated individuals from getting ideas.