Girl, 11, knifes classmate to death

An 11-year-old girl slashed a female classmate to death with a razorknife at a Japanese elementary school today

Satomi Mitarai, 12, was slashed on the arms and neck during the lunchtime assault in a classroom in Sasebo, 650 miles south-west of Tokyo.

Police said she was attacked with a small knife with a retractable razor blade used to cut paper.

“I can’t understand at all how it happened,” said the victim’s father, Kyoji Mitarai, who said his daughter always seemed to get along with her classmates.

“When I arrived, Satomi was already lying there collapsed. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing before my eyes,” he said.

Mitarai’s bleeding body was discovered in a third-floor classroom by a teacher who called police.

Police said the arrested girl had confessed, though they did not yet have a motive.

A teacher said she first noticed something was wrong when the two girls were missing at the beginning of lunch period. The one of them showed up smeared with blood.

Increasing violence in Japan’s schools and among youth has been a rising concern in recent years.