Attacker stabs 12 children at China kindergarten

Reporting from BEIJING — A vengeful man stabbed 12 children with a kitchen knife at a kindergarten in southern China on Wednesday, seriously injuring five of them, local authorities said.

The attacker “sneaked into” the school in the afternoon and stabbed children in his child’s class while the students were eating, according to a statement from the Pingxiang city government’s information office, citing police. Two teachers fought back with plastic chairs, and police called to the school in the largely rural region of Guangxi managed to detain the man.

None of the children has life-threatening injuries, the statement said.

The government said the suspect was Qin Peng’an, a man from Nanshan village, which is under the jurisdiction of Pingxiang city. It said Qin told staff at Xiaocongzai Kindergarten that he was picking up his child.

An initial police investigation said that Qin felt bullied in the village and stabbed the children out of anger and revenge, according to the city government.

In recent years, China has had several incidents of attackers entering schools and stabbing children, mostly carried out by people that officials say have vendettas against society.

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UPDATES:

7:35 a.m.: This article was updated with one additional victim, as well as information about the suspect.

This article was originally published at 5:45 a.m.