China: Knife attack in Guixi city primary school leaves two dead

Two people have been killed and 10 others injured in a knife attack at a primary school in China's southern Jiangxi province, police said.

It was not immediately clear if children were among the casualties.

The attack took place at about midday (04:00 GMT) at the school in Guixi city.

Police said it was carried out by a 45-year-old woman, who used a fruit knife. She has since been controlled, police added in a statement on social media.

Parents at the school have described their shock and fear at hearing the attack had taken place.

"I received the news at noon, and I was very shocked," one told the BBC, speaking on the condition of anonymity, "My child is in the fifth grade and very young and has safely arrived home, but the school has not informed us of anything and has kept everything hidden. I am going back to comfort my child and to find out what exactly happened."

Another father - who also did not want to be named - said: "Of course, we are scared. It's not just the children; even we adults are very frightened.

"The class teachers handled it quite well; they immediately posted photos of the children in the parent group, saying the children were safe and that they had already locked the doors, asking parents to come and pick them up. They mentioned that the details of the case are still under investigation."

China has seen a spate of knife attacks in recent months. In May, a man stabbed dead two people and wounded 21 others at a hospital in the southern province of Yunnan.

In August last year, two people were killed and seven others injured after a man with a history of mental illness attacked people with a knife in a residential district in also Yunnan.

In July that year, six people, including three children, were killed in a stabbing at a kindergarten in the south-eastern province of Guangdong.