Parent kills three pupils in frenzied stabbing attack at school

A man with a knife killed three children and wounded five more and a teacher in a primary school in China, on the first day of a new term after the summer holidays.

The suspect was a parent of a student, and he attacked the children because the school did not let his daughter register for the new term because she had not finished summer homework, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

The man entered the school, in Shiyan city in Hubei province, saying he had to register his daughter, CCTV said, citing the initial police investigation.

After the attack, the man took his own life by jumping out the school building, state media said.

According to China’s official news agency, Xinhua, the six wounded have been hospitalised, and two were seriously hurt.

The man, surnamed Chen, “died on the spot“, Xinhua said without providing further details.

There have been several attacks on schools and children in recent years, leading to much soul-searching and calls for measures to improve school security in a country were many couples only have one child.

The attacker yesterday injured a teacher and eight children, three of whom died on their way to the hospital, CCTV said.

In May, a knife-wielding man stabbed and injured eight students in a primary school in another city in Hubei. In December 2012, a man barged into a village primary school in the central province of Henan and stabbed and injured 23 children.

School guards in China are often not equipped or trained to stop such attacks.