A man brandishing a knife burst into an elementary school yesterday and slashed nearly two dozen people, killing at least eight children, in Japan's worst mass killing since a deadly nerve gas attack on Tokyo's subways six years ago.
The 37-year-old attacker was subdued by the vice principal and a teacher, who was slightly injured, and arrested immediately after the stabbings in Osaka. Police said he once worked as a janitor at an elementary school in a nearby city and has an arrest record.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Two of the stabbed children died at the scene and the other six died at a hospital, Fire Department spokesman Tetsuo Higashimoto said. Fifteen others -- 13 children and two teachers -- were injured, and eight remained in serious condition late yesterday, said Masatsugu Yoneda, another Fire Department official.
The attack lasted only about 15 minutes, said a city police official on condition of anonymity.
An unidentified schoolgirl, talking to Japanese reporters, said one of the students at the elite school managed to somehow get onto the public address system.
"There was a shriek," the girl said. "Then I heard a cry for help."
Other students described teachers and hallways spattered with blood.
The slashing was the deadliest mass assault in Japan since a doomsday cult attacked the Tokyo subways in 1995, killing 12 people and sickening thousands.
But yesterday's attack was particularly shocking because of its slaughter of children.
"We are filled with anger over this unfortunate situation," said Kaoru Nakatani, head of Osaka Education University, which runs the elementary school. Nearly 700 children attend the school.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi called the attack "heartbreaking."
The dead children -- six girls and two boys -- were first or second-grade students, ranging in age from six to eight.
Police said the attacker, identified as Mamoru Takuma, carried a kitchen knife with a 15cm blade. He was arrested at the scene, but was also injured -- reportedly with self-inflicted wounds -- and taken to a hospital. He was turned over to police about an hour later.
It was not immediately clear what motivated the crime, though police said the man told them that he had taken 10 times his daily dose of an unspecified anti-depressant.
Takuma said under questioning that he was "sick of everything" and "wanted to be caught and executed," according to a police official in Osaka, who spoke on condition of anonymity. He told police he had attempted suicide several times but failed to kill himself, the official said.
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