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This picture has been used for representational purposes
Eight students of a primary school in central China were reportedly killed and two others injured in a brutal knife attack carried out by a man who was released recently from jail, state-run media reported on Tuesday.
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According to Chinese tabloid newspaper Global Times, 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.
Eight children were reportedly stabbed to death, while two other students suffered injuries in the attack, it said. The suspect was a 40-year-old local resident, who was released from jail in May and was arrested immediately after the incident.
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The man was known to be an ex-convict who had spent over eight years in jail for attempting to gouge out his girlfriend's eye, the report said. The incident has reportedly sparked outrage among people as Monday marked the start of classes for school students. Also, many netizens have urged the schools to strengthen security, the report said.
Knife and axe attacks on schoolchildren by disgruntled people have reportedly become a common occurrence in China in recent years, with the perpetrators often claiming that they are motivated by a desire to take revenge on society.
In April, a knife-wielding man had attacked primary school children in China's Hunan province, leaving two students dead. In January, another man was detained in Beijing over a hammer attack in which 20 students were injured. In April 2018, 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 student seeking revenge for having been bullied.
With inputs from PTI
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