22 children and elderly woman stabbed outside primary school by Chinese knifeman

No motive was given for the stabbings, which echo a string of similar assaults against schoolchildren in 2010

Latest in series of similar attacks at Chinese schools and kindergartens

Twenty-two children were hurt by a knife-wielding man at a primary school in central China.



Min Yingjun, 36, stabbed an elderly woman before bursting into Chenpeng Village Primary School in the Henan province yesterday.



Seven of the students, aged between six and 12 years old, were taken to hospital, some with severed fingers and ears.



A knife-wielding man injured 22 children on a rampage through a primary school in central China.



Security guards stand outside a school in central China where a knife-wielding man injured 22 children and an elderly woman as students were arriving for classes Hurt: Primary school pupil Zhang recovers in hospital following the brutal knife attack Concern: Little Zou Can receives treatment at a hospital in central China's Henan Province

Police told the Chinese government's Xinhua News Agency that Min was possibly 'mentally ill' and is now in custody.



Min burst into the home of a 85-year-old woman before stabbing her with a kitchen knife shortly before 8am.

He then continued the attack at the neighbouring school when he was overpowered by security guards, who have been posed across China following a spate of school attacks in recent years.



Yesterday, a Guangshan county hospital administrator said there were no deaths, although two of the children were badly injured and had been transferred to better-equipped hospitals outside the county.



Primary school pupil Wei Jingru was also injured in the attack

A notice on the Guangshan county government's website said an emergency response team had been set up to investigate the attacks.



It recent spate of school attacks in the country have raised concerns about copycats.



Little coverage was given to yesterday's stabbing spree on state-run news channels.



There were six similar attacks in just seven months in 2010 that killed nearly 20 people and wounded more than 50.



The most recent such attack took place in August, when a knife-wielding man broke into a middle school in the southern city of Nanchang and stabbed two students before fleeing.

In one of the worst incidents, a man described as an unemployed, middle-aged doctor killed eight children with a knife in March 2010 to vent his anger over a thwarted romantic relationship.

Tight controls mean that gun crimes are rare in China and make knives and sometimes explosives the weapons used in mass attacks in China.

No motive has been given for the recent school attack.



Ku Jianhui, a lawyer with the Beijing Xindong law firm, said the social environment is a 'factor', adding: 'A person who chooses extreme acts to voice his or her grievances usually believes that his or her cases were unable to be handled fairly through normal channels or legal procedures.'

The knife-wielding man stabbed an elderly woman before attacking the children at Chenpeng Village Primary School, pictured