China police have launched a manhunt for a 56 year old suspect who stabbed four children to death while they were on their way to school in the southern region of Guangxi Friday afternoon, the latest in a series of attacks against children over the past ten years.

China state media Xinhua said three children died on the spot while the fourth one died later in the hospital.

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Reports said that the suspect, believed to be living in Pingshan, was riding a red motorized rickshaw while stabbing the children.

The police have issued a plate number on the rickshaw and have offered a bounty of 20,000 yuan to anyone who can provide information on the whereabouts of the suspect.

The Chinese government has expressed alarm over the spate of killings that have targeted schoolchildren in the past ten years.

The state media, Xinhua, said three students had been  killed  in a stabbing incident in the school at Hubei province. In 2010, an attacker went on a killing spree, stabbing to death seven children, a teacher, and wounding 20 others at a kindergarten in Northwest China.

Reports said the assailants usually have no connection to the school or their victims and authorities said the brutal attacks are attributed to the people who are  suffering from mental illness.

The incident has led police to tighten security in schools, confiscating knives and deadly weapons at the gate. The children were also taught to learn self defense.

Xinhua said crimes in China are  very rare compared to many other countries but there has been an alarming increase in the killings of schoolchildren in schools in recent years.

The latest knifing incident has led to calls to improve security measures in schools and protect the children especially in a country where there is the One-Child policy.

Xinhua said school guards are not trained to handle these kinds of attacks. The police have called on school officials to contribute to the training of their guards to put a stop to these killings.

Tagsstabbing, Security, police