At least seven students were killed and 12 injured in a knife attack at a middle school in Shaanxi province, China, on Friday evening, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.
A male suspect was arrested by police and an investigation is ongoing, Xinhua reported, citing local government officials.
Knife attacks at schools in China are common. Last year, a man climbed over the wall of a kindergarten and attacked 11 students. None suffered life-threatening injuries.
In 2016, a man in the southern province of Hainan stabbed 10 children before killing himself, authorities said.
And another man killed three students at a school in 2014 before jumping off a building.
But perhaps the worst spate of stabbings occurred in 2010, which included a period of three consecutive days in which attackers targeted schools.
China’s Ministry of Education responded to those events by ordering schools to beef up security and bar strangers from going on campuses.
China also began requiring people to register with the government when buying large knives.
