2 dead, several injured in knife attack in Chinese hospital

NEW DELHI: At least two people are believed to have been killed and several injured in an attack on a hospital in southwest China on Tuesday. The nature of the attack remains unknown.

“The incident occurred at a local hospital and at 1:20 p.m. (0520 GMT) … more than ten people were injured or killed,” state news agency Xinhua said.

The attack occurred in Zhenxiong county in southwestern Yunnan province and authorities were investigating, it said.

Images published by state-run news site The Paper showed a man pointing a knife at another man with a stick in a hospital lobby and police officers arriving at the scene.

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“It happened around 11am…it’s still a bit chaotic, they’re still crunching the numbers,” a resident told The Paper.

There have been a number of stabbings in recent years, although mass violent crimes are rare in China, where citizens are strictly prohibited from owning firearms.

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.

(With AFP inputs)