Beijing, Sept 3: Eight students of a primary school in central China were killed and two others injured in a brutal knife attack carried out by an ex-convict, state-run media reported on Tuesday, in the third such assault on school children this year.
The incident happened at around 8:00 am on Monday at Chaoyangpo grade school in the town of Baiyangping at Enshi county at Hubei province, on the first day of the new academic year, according to the Global Times.
Eight children were stabbed to death, while two other students suffered injuries in the attack, it said.
The suspect, a 40-year-old local resident, was arrested immediately after the incident.
The man was an ex-convict who had spent over eight years in jail for attempting to gouge out his girlfriend's eye, the report said. He was released from jail in May.
The attacker's motive was not immediately clear.
The victims' ages were not released, but children at the school range between six and 13 years old.
The incident sparked public outrage as Monday marked the start of classes for school students. Many netizens have urged the schools to strengthen security, the report said.
The local government is providing psychological counselling services to the students who witnessed or were injured in Monday's attack.
Knife and axe attacks on schoolchildren by disgruntled people have become a common occurrence in China in recent years, with the perpetrators often saying they are motivated by a desire to take revenge on society.
In April, a knife-wielding man attacked primary schoolchildren in China's Hunan province, killing two students.
In January, a man was detained in Beijing over a hammer attack in which 20 students were injured.
In April last year, nine students were killed and over a dozen others injured outside a middle school in northwestern Shaanxi province by an attacker who allegedly was a former pupil seeking revenge for having been bullied.
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New Delhi (PTI): The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on Saturday appealed to the Bangladesh interim government to ensure the atrocities on the Hindus are stopped and ISKCON monk Chinmoy Krishna Das is released from jail immediately.
RSS general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale in a statement also appealed to the Indian government to continue its efforts to stop the atrocities on the Hindus and other minorities in Bangladesh and take necessary steps to build global opinion in its support "as soon as possible".
"The attacks, murders, looting, arson as well as inhuman atrocities by Islamic fundamentalists on Hindus, women and all other minorities in Bangladesh are extremely worrying and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh condemns this," he said.
Instead of stopping this, the present Bangladesh government and other agencies are only silent spectators, Hosabale said.
"Out of helplessness, a new phase of injustice and atrocities seems to be emerging against the Hindus of Bangladesh to suppress the voice raised by them in a democratic way for self-defense," the RSS general secretary said.
"It is unjust for the Bangladesh government to send ISKCON monk Chinmoy Krishna Das, who is leading the Hindus in such peaceful demonstrations, to jail," he added
Bangladesh Police earlier on Monday arrested International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) monk Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari from the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport area in Dhaka while he was travelling to Chittagong.
"The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh appeals to the Bangladesh government to ensure that the atrocities on Hindus in Bangladesh stop immediately and release Shri Chinmoy Krishna Das from imprisonment," Hosabale said.
"The RSS also appeals to the Indian government to continue its efforts to stop the atrocities on Hindus and other minorities in Bangladesh and take necessary steps as soon as possible to build global opinion in its support," he added.
At this crucial time, the RSS general secretary said, India and the global community and institutions should stand with the victims of Bangladesh and express their support, and demand that their respective governments make every possible effort to ensure that atrocities on the Hindus and other minorities are stopped in Bangladesh immediately.
This is necessary for world peace and brotherhood, he added.