BEIJING—A 28-year-old man who harboured a hatred of children having been bullied at school stabbed to death seven Chinese middle school students who were on their way home from classes on Friday, state television reported.
The attack happened in Mizhi county in the northwestern province of Shaanxi, the brief report said, adding 12 students were injured.
The suspect is also from Mizhi and wanted to exact payback for the bullying he had suffered at school, using a dagger in his attack, state television said, adding he had been taken into custody.
The Shaanxi City Express newspaper showed pictures on its microblog of children on the ground covered in blood, and the suspect being lead away by police.
Violent crime is rare in China compared with many other countries, especially in major cities where security is tight, but there has been a series of knife and axe attacks in recent years, many targeting children.
In February, a woman was killed and 12 people injured when a man carried out a knife attack in a mall in a busy shopping district in the capital, Beijing.
Such attacks are often blamed on people with mental illness or who have personal grievances. Knives are most commonly used because gun controls are extremely strict in China.
By Ben Blanchard
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