At least two people were killed and another 21 injured in a knife attack in a hospital in China’s southwestern province of Yunnan on Tuesday, state media reported, citing official sources.
The attack, described by state media Xinhua as a 'violent incident' took place at a local hospital in Zhenxiong county, the news agency reported, adding that authorities were gathering more information.
“Multiple videos from the scene also show a suspect being apprehended by police in a [nearby] wellness center,” Guizhou Television reported.
Officials have not yet confirmed whether the suspect arrested is the attacker.
An eye-witness interviewed by Chinese state media outlet, The Paper, said the situation remained chaotic as authorities worked to assess the situation.
China, where guns are illegal, has faced a spate of mass stabbings in public places in recent years.
Last year, six people were killed and one injured in an early morning knife attack outside a kindergarten in southern China’s Guangdong. A 2020 knife attack at an elementary school injured 37 children and two adults in the southern Guangxi region, while a 2022 stabbing, also at a kindergarten, killed three and injuring six in eastern Jiangxi province.
Yunnan was also the location of a 2014 knife attack at a train station in the provincial capital of Kunming, where multiple assailants killed 33 people and wounded 133. Authorities blamed terrorists from its Northwestern region of Xinjiang for that attack.
