Man with knife kills 2, injures 18 in stabbing spree China's Guizhou province

SHANGHAI (REUTERS) - A knife-wielding man suspected of mental illness killed two people and injured 18 in China, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Violent crime is relatively rare in China compared with many other countries, but there has been a series of knife and axe attacks in recent years, many targeting children.

Twenty people were taken to hospital after the Sunday (May 28) attack in Guizhou province in south-west China, and two died, Xinhua said.

It did not give any details of the victims.

The attacker, aged 30, is being held in police custody and the case was under investigation.

Xinhua cited the suspect's father as saying his son has a history of mental illness.

In January, a man wounded 11 children with a blade at their kindergarten in the south-western Guangxi region. Seven children were wounded in a November attack by a man with a knife in north-western Shaanxi province.

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