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Japan mass stabbing: children among at least 15 injured in attack in Kawasaki Japan mass stabbing: 13 young children among 19 injured in attack in Kawasaki
(about 1 hour later)
At least 15 people, including primary school children, have been stabbed on the street in Kawasaki city, south of Tokyo. Nineteen people, including 13 primary schoolgirls, have been injured after a man armed with at least one knife went on a stabbing rampage near Tokyo on Tuesday morning, Japanese media reported.
Two children and an adult were without vital signs after the incident, according to Japanese broadcaster NHK, citing police. One girl and one man showed no vital signs after the attack, which occurred at a bus stop near a railway station in the city of Kawasaki, south of the capital, public broadcaster NHK said, adding that three more had suffered serious injuries.
Police said the incident happened on Tuesday morning on a street near a park in Noborito, Kawasaki city. They put the injury toll at 15, while firefighters said at least 19 had been injured, NHK reported. Eight children are thought to be among the injured. Japanese media often describe victims as being in a state of cardiopulmonary arrest until their deaths have been confirmed by a medical professional.
A man, who himself has serious injuries, has been detained by police, who found two knives at the scene. The 13 children, believed to be aged six or seven, are believed to be pupils at Caritas primary school and were waiting for a bus to school when the the suspect, who has not been named, launched his attack.
This is a breaking news story, please check back for updates The suspected attacker, reportedly a man in his 40s or 50s, was unconscious after stabbing himself in the shoulder, Kyodo news agency quoted local police as saying. Police said they had yet to establish a motive.
Media reports said the attack began at about 7.45am near a park outside Noborito station. Police found two knives in the park.
Staff at Caritas, a private Catholic school, have yet to confirm whether its pupils are among the victims.
NHK quoted witnesses as saying the suspect began stabbing his victims as they waited to board a bus.
TV networks showed live footage of multiple police cars, ambulances and fire engines at the scene. Emergency medical tents were put up to treat the injured.
“I heard the sound of lots of ambulances and I saw a man lying near a bus stop bleeding,” a witness told NHK.
“There is another bus stop near the primary school and I also saw schoolchildren lying on the ground ... It’s a quiet neighbourhood, it’s scary to see this kind of thing happen,” he added.
Japan has one of the lowest rates of violent crime in the developed world. Mass attacks are rare, but it has experienced sporadic, and deadly, attacks involving knives.
In 2016, a man who claimed he wanted to kill people with disabilities killed 19 people and injured 26 others in a knife attack at a care facility near Tokyo.
In 2001, eight children died and 19 other were injured when a man forced his way into a primary school and began a frenzied knife attack.
In 2008, seven people were killed by a man who slammed a truck into a crowd of people in central Tokyo’s Akihabara district and then stabbed passers-by.
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