6 nurses among 7 hacked to death in military hospital in China

, Nov 20: In a gruesome incident, six nurses and a co-worker at a Chinese military hospital were hacked to death by a disgruntled employee in a northeastern seaside resort town where the country's Communist Party leaders meet annually to hold informal meetings.

The knife attack took place early this morning in a dormitory of People's Liberation Army (PLA) 281 Hospital in the seaside town of Beidaihe, about 300 kilometres east of Beijing, state-run China Radio International reported. A 27-year-old man, Li Xiaolong, who is working in the hospital's canteen, has been arrested for allegedly carrying out the attack.

Official media reported that Li, who is from Tangshan's Leting county in Hebei, had a history of mental illness and had been treated at hospitals in Tangshan and Beijing around 2006. Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post quoted local media report stating that Li lived on the first floor of the hospital dormitory while those he attacked lived on the third floor.

After the rampage Li returned to his dorm and stayed put there rather than escaping. The attack was similar to a series of such incidents reported from across the country in which knife wielding attackers went berserk and attacked children and people on the road or in malls.

All the knife attacks are blamed on people with mental illnesses and in a number of instances the attackers were stated to be disgruntled people. In today's incident, there was no history of animosity between Li and those he is accused of attacking, the reports said.

PTI