A man with a history of mental illness forced his way into a primary school in Japan and unleashed a frenzied knife attack that left eight children dead and 19 others injured.
Two teachers at the school, located in Ikeda in the suburbs of the western city of Osaka, were also injured. One of them was in critical condition yesterday after undergoing emergency surgery. Seven of the eight slain children were girls aged seven and eight.
The only boy, Takahiro Totsuka, six, was the youngest victim. None of the injured pupils, most of whom had been stabbed in the stomach and back, was thought to be in a serious condition.
The attack yesterday morning - by far the worst seen at a Japanese school - was greeted with disbelief and later consternation at the recent rise in high-profile violent crimes in a country whose reputation for safety has long been the envy of the world.
The alleged attacker, Mamoru Takuma, a former maintenance man at a primary school in a nearby town, was confronted and disarmed by two members of staff and arrested about 10 minutes after beginning his rampage.
He had been attending a psychiatric hospital as an outpatient, receiving treatment for schizophrenia. Police quoted a "fed up" Takuma as saying he had attempted suicide several times, and wished to be put to death for the crimes.
Local media reports suggested that Takuma, 37, had taken 10 times his daily dose of drugs before the attack.
A picture emerged of a troubled man who dropped out of school and whose erratic, anti-social behaviour prevented him from holding down a job. He found work at the other primary school in April 1998, but was dismissed after lacing a colleague's tea with drugs.
He later worked as a taxi driver, but was sacked after allegedly punching a hotel employee in October last year, leaving him with a broken nose.
The Japanese prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, said he was "very worried about our children" and vowed to help the victims and to ensure safety at schools. Atsuko Toyama, the education minister, said: "This should never have happened. Schools should be places where children can feel safe and secure."
According to police, Mr Takuma entered a ground-floor classroom via a verandah shortly after 10am, while pupils took a break between lessons. He lunged at three boys standing near a blackboard as their petrified classmates ran into the corridor and out into the school playground.
The suspect gave chase and stabbed several more pupils before continuing his attack in three other classrooms packed with children.
Witnesses said the attacker, who had dyed blonde hair and wore a winter jacket despite the humid weather, panted and shook as he stalked the classroom, lashing out indiscriminately with a 28cm kitchen knife.
Pupils in other classrooms learned of the terror unfolding via the school's public address system. "We were listening to an announcement over the loudspeaker, and then it was interrupted by a scream and a noise like a desk being overturned," an unnamed girl was quoted as saying.
Others recalled seeing classmates, some with bloodstained uniforms, lying injured on the floor as they fled the building. Another girl said: "I spotted two girls lying on the stairs. One of them was groaning, but the other wasn't moving at all."
Local residents were alerted to the attack when a group of pupils, including several with knife wounds, ran screaming into a nearby supermarket. Stunned employees and shoppers laid the injured children on lengths of cardboard and tried to stem the flow of blood with towels.
"One boy was red-faced and blood was pouring from his shoulder. His lips were deathly pale, and he could barely speak," a supermarket employee told the Kyodo news agency.
Distraught parents arrived at the school to find out whether their children were among the dead or injured. Many talked frantically into mobile phones, while others hugged and comforted one another. Television pictures showed a young woman, who appeared to be on the verge of collapse, being physically supported by friends and emergency workers.
An elderly woman whose granddaughter attends the school asked the question that was on the lips of just about everyone in Japan yesterday: "How could such a terrible thing have happened?"
Doctors were sent to Ikeda to offer counselling to victims and their families, and Yasuo Fukuda, the chief cabinet secretary, said a review of school security was being considered.
Attacks of this kind in Japan's schools are rare, although in December 1999 a 21-year-old man walked into a primary school playground in Kyoto and stabbed a six-year-old boy to death.
Recent months have seen a spate of other apparently motiveless, violent crimes. Last month a commuter was beaten to death on a station platform in Tokyo after asking a fellow passenger to move further inside a crowded train.
Social commentators, grasping for an explanation for yesterday's killings, pointed to outdated attitudes toward mental illness and the social stigma attached to seeking help for psychological problems.
