Japanese girl, 11, kills classmate by slitting her throat

A JAPANESE schoolgirl died yesterday after her throat was cut by an 11-year-old classmate, in the latest of the country’s violent crimes committed by ever-younger children.

Police said Satomi Mitarai, 12, was attacked by a female classmate with a knife during the lunch break at her primary school in Sasebo, 610 miles west of Tokyo, and died of blood loss.

"The wound was very deep and there was lots of blood. She was lying on the floor face down. Her throat had been slit," a local emergency worker said on television.

Kyodo news agency said the two sixth-graders left their classroom during lunch and the 11-year-old later returned with her clothes stained with blood.

The victim was found dead in a study room on the third floor of the small school, which has 187 students - 38 in the sixth grade. The classmate was being questioned by police.

The public broadcaster NHK said the younger girl had not said why she attacked the 12-year-old.