Eighteen Chinese children injured in school attack

Beijing, July 21: Eighteen Chinese children aged 7 and below and their teacher were wounded by a mentally ill man who broke into a kindergarten wielding a wrench, the Xinhua news agency said today.

A man in his 40s was arrested after the attack yesterday in Foshan city in southern Guangdong Province.

The man, surnamed Ouyang, hit the victims on the head with the wrench but fled on a motorcycle after the teacher, Ouyang Liuxing, fought back, Xinhua said.

''I was frightened by the scene and went to stop him. He hit me in the head with the wrench, but I kicked him in the private parts,'' Xinhua quoted the teacher as saying.

None of the victims had suffered critical injuries, Xinhua said. Police found the man later in his home. He tried to commit suicide by stabbing himself, and was later sent to hospital.

There have been a series of attacks on schools and schoolchildren around China in recent years, some by people who have lost their jobs or felt left out of the country's economic boom.

In June, a 9-year-old boy was stabbed to death and three children wounded by a man who broke into a primary school armed with a kitchen knife.

In September last year, a Chinese history teacher beat an 11-year-old pupil senseless and threw her body from a fourth-floor classroom window.

In May last year, a man set fire to a kindergarten classroom, killing three children and injuring 14 people.

Separately, Xinhua said on Friday that a mentally ill man from Guangdong had received a suspended death sentence for murdering five family members and an employee with a hammer last year.

Under Chinese law, leniency can be considered when courts mete out sentences for those confirmed to be suffering mental illness when they commit crimes.

Reuters>