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December 18, 2012

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Doomsday believer held for school attack

AN obsessed doomsday believer has been arrested for lacerating 23 children at an elementary school and one adult last Friday in Henan Province, police said after an initial investigation.

Prosecutors in Guangshan County confirmed yesterday that it had ratified the arrest of Min Yongjun, 36, previously reported as Min Yingjun, on a charge of jeopardizing public security, Xinhua news agency reported yesterday.

Min, a native of Guangshan, was suspected of slashing the faces or heads of 23 students and an elderly villager at Wanquan Primary School in Chenpeng Village, Xinhua news agency reported yesterday.

Previous reports had said 22 students were injured. However, police found another student had escaped and run home after being stabbed.

Most of the students sustained head injuries or cuts to their fingers or ears, and some have been transferred to bigger hospitals in Xinyang in Henan and Wuhan in Hubei Province for immediate surgery.

Four suffered serious cuts but were expected to recover, the report said.

It was the third knife attack at schools in Guangshan since last year.

Last month, an 18-year-old high school student was stabbed to death by an unknown attacker at the gates of a school and a 17-year-old student was killed by a classmate on his school's playground in October 2011, Xinhua said.

Min reportedly believed the ancient Mayan prophecy that the world will end on December 21, 2012, according to police.

Although most children panicked, more than 10 boys in a third-grade class together blocked a door to prevent the attacker from entering, Anhui TV Station reported.

The attacker tried to kick the door in and smashed windows, but the boys held their ground and he gave up trying to get in, the report said.

Netizens praised these boys as heroes.

Villagers in Min's hometown expressed shock at Friday's events and did not understand what caused Min to attack the children, Xinhua said.

Min was described as an outspoken man with an illness. He has two daughters while his wife spent little time at home as she often sought jobs in other cities, the report said.

In the wake of the attack, authorities in Xinyang City, which administers Guangshan, ordered reinforced police patrols near schools to better protect young students and teachers.


 

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