Eight killed in stabbing spree in East China

Zhou allegedly killed his 10-year-old daughter Zhou Xiaomin at home first, before stabbing his 80-year-old mother despite the woman's pleas for mercy, media reported.

He then broke into a neighbor's home and allegedly killed his wife, 36-year-old Kang Qiuying, their neighbor Hu Dongsheng and Hu's 83-year-old mother, Wu Xiu.

Two other villagers, Ye Wen'e and Zhou Nian Mei, tried running away from the scene of the attack to seek help from the police. But Zhou allegedly stabbed them to death as well. A man, Zuo Huasheng, reportedly became Zhou's eight victim when he ran into the suspect in the street.

Local villagers considered Zhou to be a genial person before the attacks, the village's Party chief, surnamed Gao, told China Daily.

Zhou and his wife also have a 5-year-old son. The family's financial status is reportedly not good and Zhou sometimes went to cities to do odd jobs while his wife farmed at home.

"There has never been such a serious case in the village. The villagers are now very nervous," Gao said.

Man Hacked 7 Children and 2 Adults in Latest Attack at School

An attacker with a cleaver hacked to death seven children and two adults at a kindergarten in northwest China on Wednesday, the latest in a string of savage assaults on the country's schools. Eleven other children were wounded.

The killer, 48-year-old Wu Huanming, returned home after the attack on the outskirts of the city of Hanzhong and committed suicide, the local government reported. A motive wasn't known, although reports indicated he and the school administrator may have known each other. [...]

The attack began at about 8:20 a.m., as children were arriving at the private Shengshui Temple Kindergarten in Hanzhong's Nanzheng county, the government statement said. The area is on the city's rural outskirts in a relatively poor part of the country.

Wu killed the school's administrator Wu Hongying and a student on the spot, then hacked at 18 others, the statement said. Six students and Wu Hongying's mother later died in hospital, it said. [...]

"I saw him (the attacker) before and he looked quite normal," said the man, who would identify himself only by his surname, Li. [...]

Early reports on Wednesday's attack were removed from Chinese Web sites or moved from the home page to inside sections, an apparent attempt to play down the incident. There was no mention of it on state television's national noon news report. [...]

State media has also steered clear of examining what might be motivating school attackers, preferring to focus on increases in security.