A hospital attack in China left two people dead and 21 injured

Two people were killed and 21 injured after a man committed a stabbing attack at a hospital in southwest China on Tuesday, according to local officials.

“A knife attack occurred at Chengnan Hospital in Zhenxiong County, leaving two people dead and 21 injured,” said a statement on the county’s official WeChat account.

The suspect – a man from a nearby village – is being investigated, the authorities said.

The wounded were being treated in hospital, they added.

Images published by state news site The Paper appeared to show a man pointing a knife at another man with a stick in a hospital lobby, as well as police officers arriving at the scene.

In China, where citizens are strictly prohibited from owning firearms, mass crime rarely occurs. However, there has been a spate of stabbings in recent years.

Last August, two people died and seven others were injured in Yunnan after a man with a history of mental illness attacked people with a knife.

The month before, six people were killed and one injured in a knife attack on a kindergarten in southern China’s Guangdong province.

And in August 2022, three people were killed and six injured in a knife attack at a kindergarten in southeast China’s Jiangxi Province.

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