A tragic knife attack occurred at Zhenxiong County People’s Hospital in Yunnan province, southwestern China, on Tuesday, resulting in two deaths and 21 injuries, according to local authorities. The assailant, identified only as a male from a nearby village, was apprehended following the incident. Authorities have yet to determine a motive for the attack.
Eyewitness accounts and a video reported by Red Star News depicted a chaotic scene with several injured individuals, including potentially one or more doctors, bleeding on the ground. One video captured an elderly person attempting to assist another victim.
Initial reports inaccurately stated that 23 people were injured; however, police later clarified that the total number of injured was 21. Footage broadcasted by Guizhou Province Television showed the suspect being detained by police.
Zhenxiong county, the location of the attack, is situated approximately 360 kilometers northeast of Kunming, the capital of Yunnan, and close to the border with Sichuan province.
This incident adds to a series of knife attacks in China, which have frequently targeted vulnerable locations such as kindergartens. For instance, last July, a man wielding a knife killed six and injured one at a kindergarten in Guangdong province. Additionally, a man who injured 15 people at a Shanghai hospital in 2022 was sentenced to death last year.