Seven children hacked to death in latest Chinese school attack

SEVEN children and two adults were hacked to death by a cleaver-wielding attacker at a nursery in China yesterday, the latest in a string of savage assaults on the country's schools. Eleven other children were wounded.

The killer, Wu Huanming, 48, returned home after the attack and took his own life.

The official Xinhua News Agency said Wu owned the building used by the school and had argued with the school's manager, who was among the victims.

It was the fifth major assault on young pupils in China since late March and occurred despite increased security at schools countrywide, with gates and security cameras installed at some of them and additional police and guards posted at entrances.

The latest deaths are sure to fuel speculation about why assailants – usually lone males – are targeting schools.

Sociologists claim the recent attacks that have left 17 dead and more than 60 injured reflect the tragic consequences of ignoring mental illness and rising stress resulting from huge social inequalities in China's fast-changing society.

"The perpetrators have contracted a 'social psychological infectious disease' that shows itself in a desire to take revenge on society," said Zhou Xiaozheng of Beijing's Renmin University. "They pick children as targets because they are the weakest and most vulnerable."

The recent attacks were classic "copycat crimes", the effects of which may be amplified by media coverage, he said.

After past attacks, the authorities banned or limited media coverage, and early reports on yesterday's incident were removed from Chinese websites or moved to less prominent pages.

There was no mention of it on state television's national evening news report.

That may indicate fears that coverage inspires other assailants, but authorities may also have wanted to avoid the embarrassing news, especially during the World Expo in Shanghai

The attack began at about 8:20am, as children were arriving at the private Shengshui Temple Kindergarten in the city of Hanzhong, in the north-west of the country.

Wu killed the school's manager, Wu Hongying, 50, and one pupil on the spot, then hacked at 18 others. Six pupils and Wu Hongying's 80-year-old mother later died in the hospital.

Wu had reportedly rented his house to Wu Hongying for the nursery without government approval. He then demanded the property back, but Mr Wu had asked to hold on to it until the children went on their summer holidays.

The string of assaults began in March with an attack on a primary school in Fujian province, where eight children were slashed to death by a former community doctor with a history of mental health problems. Since then, dozens have been wounded in similar attacks.