BEIJING (Reuters) – A hit-and-run attack at a sports center in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai killed 35 people and seriously injured 43, local police said on Tuesday (12).
The incident occurred at 7:48 pm on Monday local time when a small off-road vehicle hit a large group of people exercising outside the sports center.
Zhuhai police said in a statement on Tuesday that the suspect, a 62-year-old man surnamed Fan, was being treated at a hospital after injuring himself with a knife in his car.
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Video from the scene after the attack, verified by Reuters, showed at least 20 people lying on the ground. Shouts of “terrorist” could be heard as ambulances arrived to take the injured to hospital.
Fan was detained by police at the scene after trying to flee, police said, adding that he had injured himself with a knife, causing serious injuries to his neck.
Police said their preliminary investigation suggested the incident was sparked by Fan’s discontent following a divorce.
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President Xi Jinping, quoted by Chinese state television CCTV, ordered all efforts to treat the injured and demanded severe punishment for the perpetrator. The central government sent a team to provide guidance on handling the case, according to CCTV.
Violent crime is rare in China due to tight security and strict gun laws. However, an increase in reports of knife attacks in major cities has drawn public attention to safety in public spaces.
In October, a knife attack in Beijing left five people injured outside one of the city’s main primary schools. A month earlier, a Japanese student was fatally stabbed outside his school in Shenzhen.
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Zhuhai is hosting China’s biggest annual air show this week, at which a new stealth fighter jet will be displayed for the first time.
(Reporting by Joe Cash, Ethan Wang and Ella Cao)
