BEIJING: Three people were killed and 15 others injured in a knife attack at a suburban supermarket in Shanghai on Monday on the eve of China’s week-long National Day holiday, the latest in a series of stabbing incidents in major Chinese cities this year.

The assailant, a 37-year-old man surnamed Lin, has been detained, local police of Songjiang district said in a statement on Tuesday.

According to an initial investigation by police, Lin had travelled to Shanghai to vent his anger following a financial dispute.

The knife attack came one day before China’s Na­­tional Day “Golden Week”, when holiday travel was expected to surge.

Public stabbing incide­n­­ts have risen over the years in China, with authorities often blaming mental illness. Children at schools are a common target.

That incident along with a June knife attack on two Japanese nationals in Suzhou, a major city in eas­tern China, stoked security concerns among members of the Japanese community in China.

Published in Dawn, October 2nd, 2024