A hospital in southwest China came under attack on Tuesday, with at least 10 killed and likely dozens wounded in the incident. The state media did not specify the nature of the attack, but the CCTV camera footage released on social media shows a person wielding a knife inside the premises of the hospital.
“The incident occurred at a local hospital and as of 1:20 pm (0520 GMT)… more than 10 people have been wounded or killed,” state news agency Xinhua said.
The authorities are still investigating the nature of the attack and the motive behind it. The incident took place in Zhenxiong County in southwestern Yunnan province of China.
State run news site The Paper published images of a man holding a knife towards another man holding a stick in the hospital lobby, as well as police officers arriving at the scene.
“It happened around 11 in the morning… it’s still a bit chaotic, they’re still determining the numbers,” a local resident told The Paper.
Violent crimes of such nature, especially in public places, are extremely rare in China due to their strict firearms policy. While the law strictly prohibits citizens from owning firearms, there have been a rise in the number of stabbings in the past few years.
Last August in Yunnan, two people died and seven others were wounded after a man with a history of mental illness attacked people with a knife. The month before that, six people were killed and one wounded in a kindergarten stabbing in southern China’s Guangdong province.
