On Tuesday, a knife attack unfolded in a Yunnan province hospital in China, leading to two confirmed deaths and 23 reported injuries, although these figures were subject to change, as per police statements referenced by the media.
The incident overshadowed discussions about Xi Jinping’s Europe trip on Weibo, with the #Yunnan Stabbing hashtag trending prominently. The suspect, identified as a local male villager, was captured on picture during the attack, which quickly spread across various Chinese social media platforms. The stabbing took place at 11:37 a.m. local time, as detailed in the report from Yunnan’s Zhenxiong county official digital media centre.
Photographs released by China‘s The Paper depicted a man dressed in black, seemingly brandishing a knife in each hand, with another individual standing in front of him in the frame. Additionally, footage on The Paper displayed police vehicles and a sizable contingent of police officers stationed outside the hospital. The entrance to the hospital’s car park was also cordoned off. While some reports indicate that authorities have made an arrest, the specifics surrounding the situation remain unclear.
Firearms are prohibited in China, yet the country has experienced a series of knife attacks in recent times. Last August, a man with a known history of mental illness carried out a knife attack in a residential area in Yunnan, resulting in two fatalities and seven injuries. Earlier, in a tragic incident in southeastern Guangdong province, six individuals, including three children, lost their lives in a stabbing at a kindergarten.
The Xinhua News Agency described the recent attack as a “vicious assault,” initially reporting over 10 casualties, although earlier accounts from unnamed sources suggested two deaths and 23 injuries. However, further details are still pending. Yunnan was also the venue of a knife attack in a train station in 2014 when a number of assailants killed 33 people and injured over 100.
