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Cleaver attack kills 1, injures 5
Updated: 2010-05-18 14:15
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A cleaver-wielding man committed suicide after killing one woman and injuring five others on Sunday night in the Nanhai district of Foshan, Guangdong province, local police said on Monday.
The attack began around 7:00 pm when a man, identified only by his surname Xie, hacked a woman outside a restaurant, police said.
He then rushed into a crowded market and injured five other women before climbing the stairs of a residential building and throwing himself off the fourth floor.
All the victims were taken to the nearby Guanyao Hospital after the alleged killer chopped the six women with a cleaver, according to a news release by the hospital on Monday afternoon.
A 30-year-old woman who was chopped in her neck died at noon on Monday.
The rest of the victims were all in stable condition, with one leaving the hospital by Monday afternoon, according to the release.
The 20-year-old suspect, from Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, used to work in a factory in Foshan, local media reported.
A witness said the man looked normal and was neatly dressed, a local newspaper reported.
There were no conversations heard between the suspect and his victims so they did not seem to know each other, the witness was reported as saying.
The attack followed five separate assaults by lone assailants against schoolchildren in recent weeks that have left 17 dead and more than 50 wounded.
While Xie appeared to deliberately target women, police are still investigating the motive for his attack.
The Southern Metropolis Daily cited a witness on Monday as saying that the man had a dispute with his girlfriend before the rampage.
"His girlfriend might not have wanted to marry him," the witness said. "So he got angry."
（中國日報網英語點津 Helen 編輯）
Todd Balazovic is a reporter for the Metro Section of China Daily. Born in Mineapolis Minnesota in the US, he graduated from Central Michigan University and has worked for the China daily for one year.