In the early hours of Tuesday morning a man with a knife attacked a facility for the disabled in Sagamihara, outside Tokyo.

He is reported to have killed at least 19 people and injured up to 25 others. Four of the residents may have had heart attacks and died as a result. Emergency squads responded to the attack and the injured were taken to six different hospitals in the western Tokyo area.

"This is a very heart-wrenching and shocking incident in which many innocent people became victims," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told news conference in Tokyo.

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Attacker wanted disabled 'euthanized'

The man, who was identified by national broadcaster NHK as a 26-year-old former employee at the facility, then turned himself in to police about two hours after the attack. He has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and trespassing.

According to police cited by the Asahi Shimbun newspaper, the suspect said: "The disabled should all disappear."

The man attempted to give a letter to the speaker of Japan's lower house of parliament in February which called for the euthanasia of disabled people.

"My goal is a world in which, in cases where it is difficult for the severely disabled to live at home and be socially active, they can be euthanized with the consent of their guardians," it quoted the letter as saying.

'Heinous attack'

Sagamihara in Kanagawa Prefecture is about 40 kilometers (25 miles) southwest of Tokyo. The Tsukui Yamayuri center was set up by the local government and cares for people with a wide range of disabilities.

The US offered its condolences to Japan on Tuesday for the "heinous" attack in Sagamihara.

"There is never any excuse for such violence, but the fact that this attack occurred at a facility for person with disabilities makes it all the more repugnant and senseless," National Security Council statement read.

Mass killings are relatively rare in Japan, which has extremely strict gun-control laws. The attack in Sagamihara was the worst in decades.

rs, jm/kl (Reuters, AP)