Children shot in schoolyard attack
From correspondents in Beijing
13oct05
A CHINESE man shot and injured 16 young schoolchildren as they were doing their morning exercises, Xinhua news agency said today.
It was the latest in a wave of school attacks to shock the country in recent years.The middle-aged man opened fire with several home-made guns at the children at the Niutoushan Primary School in impoverished eastern Anhui province yesterday morning, Xinhua said.
Seven of the 16 wounded were in serious condition in hospital in the neighbouring province of Zhejiang.
One man working near the school tried to stop the shooting but was knocked down by the gunman as he made his escape, Xinhua said.
There have been a series of attacks on schools and schoolchildren around China, some by people who have lost their jobs or felt left out of the recent economic boom.
A carpenter broke into a school in southern China in April and cut off part of a boy's ear with a kitchen knife and half a girl's middle finger.
Two children and a teacher were killed last year in the Chinese capital Beijing in two separate kindergarten attacks.
A Chinese bus driver stabbed and wounded 25 primary school children in the eastern province of Shandong in September 2004. The same month, a man wielding a knife and homemade bombs injured 28 children in the eastern city of Suzhou.
Just Damn...
Must be a Chinese Confucionist.