Two stabbed at HKT48 pop group entertainment complex in Japan

Police at the scene in Fukuoka (Kyodo News/AP)

Japanese police have arrested a man in connection with the alleged stabbing of two people at an entertainment complex housing the female pop music group HKT48 in the southern city of Fukuoka.

The people suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

Fukuoka police said they arrested a 30-year-old man for allegedly stabbing a 44-year-old man in the chest on Sunday with what appeared to be a kitchen knife.

Police said they are treating the incident as possible attempted murder but did not give further details, including the suspect’s motives. They did not comment on the second stabbing.

Kyodo News agency and other Japanese media said the injured man, who worked for the HKT48 theatre inside the complex, was stabbed when he saw the man in an unauthorised area and told him to leave.

The man also allegedly stabbed a 27-year-old woman in the back in a hall at the complex, and then fled the scene, media reports said.

HKT48 said the group’s planned fan event on Sunday night was cancelled.

Violent crimes are rare in Japan, which has strict gun control laws.

In recent years there have been a number of high-profile cases involving knife attacks and home-made explosives.