Eight people were injured in a hammer attack at a Tokyo university on Friday and a 22-year-old student was arrested at the scene, Japanese media said.
All of those injured were conscious, according to public broadcaster NHK, which quoted police sources as saying the afternoon attack took place on the Tama campus of Hosei University.
NHK and other media outlets said the attacker, a female sociology student, had swung a hammer during a class.
Multiple reports said people were seen bleeding from the head and the woman said she was frustrated at being ignored.
Police could not immediately confirm details to AFP about a rare incident of violent crime in Japan, where there are strict gun control laws.
Live footage broadcast by NHK showed a line of emergency vehicles with flashing lights at the compound in the Japanese capital’s suburban Machida district.
There have been occasional stabbings and even shootings in Japan, including the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2022.
Hosei University was founded in 1880 as a law school and, according to its website, has 15 faculties.
In December, a junior high school student was stabbed to death and another wounded at a McDonald’s restaurant in southwestern Japan. A man was later arrested for the attack.
The teenagers were queuing up to order food around 8:30 p.m. when the alleged attacker entered the restaurant in the city of Kitakyushu and attacked them both with a knife.
In January 2022, three people were stabbed outside a prestigious Tokyo university ahead of nationwide college entrance exams.
Police said at the time that the victims included an 18-year-old boy, a 17-year-old girl and a 72-year-old man.
Police arrested a 17-year-old teenager, who was detained at the university gate after the early morning attack.
According to the NHK report, he was not taking exams and was not familiar with the three victims, but told police that he “wanted to die after committing an incident because I did not do well in my studies”.
According to local media, both teenagers did not suffer life-threatening injuries but the 72-year-old was seriously injured.
NHK said the university, where 3,700 students were scheduled to take the exam, conducted the exam as planned.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
