A surge in mass attacks has killed dozens in China in recent months

[November 19, 2024] 

BEIJING (AP) — Dozens of people have been killed in China in the past three months in a series of mass attacks. The latest on Tuesday saw primary school students struck by a car as they arrived for classes.

The attacks take one of two forms — either drivers mowing down people on foot or knife-wielding assailants stabbing multiple victims. Guns are strictly restricted in China and gun attacks are rare.

The attackers appear to be taking out their anger and frustration over a personal issue, according to police reports. The victims are often unknown to them.

Such attacks are not new in China and have targeted kindergartens and other schools in the past. The recent surge has gotten the attention of authorities and the public. Here is a look at some of the recent events.

Nov. 19: Vehicle hits students at primary school gate

A small white SUV struck students arriving for class at Yong’an Elementary School in Changde, an inland city in China’s Hunan province. Several adults also were injured, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

Security guards and parents subdued the driver, Xinhua said. Authorities later issued a a brief statement saying the 39-year-old driver had been detained. Few details have been confirmed yet about the incident.

Nov. 16: Stabbing kills eight at vocational school

Eight people were killed and 17 others injured in a knife attack at the Wuxi Vocational Institute of Arts and Technology in Yixing city, about 160 kilometers (100 miles) west of Shanghai in eastern China.

Police detained a 21-year old student. They said he had failed his examinations and could not graduate and was dissatisfied with his pay at an internship. He decided to vent his frustrations via the attack, a police statement said.

Nov. 11: Driver kills 35 at sports complex

A man who authorities said was upset over his divorce settlement rammed his car into a crowd of people exercising at a sports complex in Zhuhai city in southern China, killing 35 and injuring 43 others.

Guardians gather in front of the Wuxi Vocational Institute of Arts and Technology in Yixing, eastern Chinese city of Wuxi Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024, a day after a stabbing attack took place. (Kyodo News via AP, File)

Police detained the 62-year-old man, who they said was in his car attempting to stab himself with a knife. He later fell unconscious from neck and other wounds. They said the man was dissatisfied with the split of financial assets in his divorce.

Oct. 28: Five injured in knife attack near primary school

A knife attack near a prominent primary school in Beijing injured five people, including three children. Police detained a 50-year-old suspect. No motive was given.

Earlier in October, a 10-year-old Japanese student died after being stabbed near his school in Shenzhen, a southern city that borders Hong Kong. That followed a knife attack in June on a Japanese woman and her child at a bus stop for a Japanese school in Suzhou, a city near Shanghai.

Sept. 30: Knife attack kills three at supermarket

A 37-year-old man allegedly killed three people and wounded 15 others with a knife at a supermarket in Shanghai. Police said the man had personal financial disputes and came to Shanghai to “vent his anger."

The attack occurred on the eve of a weeklong national holiday in a suburban district of Shanghai, China's financial center.

All contents © copyright 2024 Associated Press. All rights reserved