Knife attack in South China hospital leaves 2 dead, 21 wounded

A man wielding a knife inside the South China hospital was seen in the CCTV footage, though the exact nature of the attack is not known

Two people were killed and 21 others were injured in a knife attack at a hospital in Zhenxiong county of China's Yunnan province on Tuesday.

Man in CCTV footage seen holding knife in hospital lobby (Image published by The Paper)

According to state news agency Xinhua, the attack took place at around 11:37 am when a man assaulted people with a knife at a local hospital in the county.

It is not yet known whether police have subdued the suspect, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.

Initially, the state media did not specify the nature of the attack, but the CCTV camera footage released on social media shows a person wielding a knife inside the premises of the hospital.

State run news site The Paper published images of a man holding a knife towards another man holding a stick in the hospital lobby, as well as police officers arriving at the scene.

"It happened around 11 in the morning... it's still a bit chaotic, they're still determining the numbers," a local resident told The Paper.

Violent crimes of such nature, especially in public places, are extremely rare in China due to their strict firearms policy. While the law strictly prohibits citizens from owning firearms, there have been a rise in the number of stabbings in the past few years.

Last August in Yunnan, two people died and seven others were wounded after a man with a history of mental illness attacked people with a knife. The month before that, six people were killed and one wounded in a kindergarten stabbing in southern China's Guangdong province.

(With inputs from Xinhua AP, AFP)