Child attacker burns himself to death

A FARMER attacked children with a hammer, injuring five, before burning himself to death yesterday in China’s third such assault in as many days and prompting the government to demand stricter school security nationwide.

Wang Yonglai used a motorcycle to break down the gate of the Shangzhuang Primary School in the eastern city of Weifang and struck a teacher who tried to block him before hitting students with the hammer, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

Wang then grabbed two children before pouring gasoline over his body and setting fire to himself. Teachers were able to pull the children away to safety, but Wang died. None of the five injured students had life-threatening injuries, Xinhua said.

The attack was confirmed by an employee at the Weifang Public Security information office. But the motive for Wang’s rampage was unclear. Xinhua described him only as a local farmer.

The attack follows a rampage last Thursday by a 47-year-old unemployed man armed with a knife at a kindergarten. Some 29 students, aged four or five years old, were wounded, five of them seriously, at the school in Taixing city in neighbouring Jiangsu province.

And on Wednesday, a 33-year-old former teacher broke into a primary school in the city of Leizhou in southern Guangdong province and wounded 15 students and a teacher with a knife.