Eight people were killed and 17 others injured in a stabbing attack on a college campus in eastern China on Saturday, police said — the latest in a recent spate of attacks that has shaken a nation long used to low rates of violent crime.
The attack took place around 6:30 p.m at the Wuxi Vocational Institute of Arts and Technology in the city of Yixing, according to a police statement. A suspect was detained at the scene, it said.
The statement said the suspect was a recent graduate who was motivated by “failing (an) exam, not receiving a graduation certificate, and dissatisfaction with internship compensation.” An investigation is ongoing.
The attack is the latest mass casualty incident to hit China — a country of 1.4 billion that has one of the lowest rates of violent crime in the world, partly due to its strict gun controls and powerful mass surveillance.
Last Monday, 35 people were killed after a car plowed into people who were exercising in the southern city of Zhuhai in the country’s deadliest known attack on the public in a decade. Around 40 others were injured.
As news of that attack spread, censors swooped in to take down online videos of the attack and moderate social media discussions
In October, police arrested a 50-year-old man after a stabbing attack near an elementary school in Beijing injured five people, including three children.
In September, three people were killed and 15 others injured in a knife attack at a suburban supermarket in Shanghai.
Also in September, a bus crashed into a crowd of students and parents outside a school in Tai’an city in Shandong province, killing 11 people and injuring 13 others. Chinese authorities did not reveal whether that incident was accidental or deliberate.
This story has been updated with additional infomation.