An attacker with a cleaver killed seven children and two adults at a kindergarten in northwest China, said a MSNBC report. Eleven other children were wounded.
The killer, 48-year-old Wu Huanming, returned home after the attack on the outskirts of the city of Hanzhong and committed suicide, the report said.
The official Xinhua News Agency said Wu owned the property used by the school and had argued with the school's manager, who was among the victims.
The attack began at about 8:20 a.m., as children were arriving at the private Shengshui Temple Kindergarten in Hanzhong's Nanzheng county, a Hanzhong government statement said. The area is on the city's rural outskirts in a relatively poor part of the country.
It was the fifth major assault on young students in China since late March and occurred despite increased security at schools countrywide, with gates and security cameras installed at some schools and additional police and guards posted at entrances.
The report said that state media have steered clear of examining what might be motivating school attackers, preferring to focus on increases in security. The city government earlier reported that about 2,000 police officers and security guards had been detailed to patrol public schools, kindergartens and surrounding areas beginning last week.
