TOKYO : A man went on a stabbing spree on Sunday in a Tokyo neighbourhood famed for comic-book subculture, killing at least seven people and leaving around a dozen injured in Japan's deadliest crime in years.

The assailant, who later told police he was "tired of living," swerved a truck into a crowd of pedestrians shortly after noon in Tokyo's bustling Akihabara area before jumping out, and screaming and stabbing strangers.

The assailant was identified as Tomohiro Kato, 25, from central Shizuola prefecture.

He first said he was a gangster before retracting his story.

"I came to Akihabara to kill people. It didn't matter whom I'd kill," he was quoted by Jiji Press as telling police.

Kato, bespectacled in a beige suit and black-and-white sneakers, was armed with a survival knife and duelled with a police officer who fought back with a baton.

By the time Kato finally dropped his knife in face of an officer's gunpoint, 17 people lay bloodied on the street of the crowded district, according to fire department and police officials.

Kato had blood running down the side of his face as he was taken into custody.

Jiji Press and other Japanese media said seven people were dead - six men aged 19, 20, 29, 33, 47 and 74, and a 21-year-old woman.

The attack fell on the anniversary of the last incident of such magnitude - a stabbing frenzy that left eight children dead at an elementary school in 2001.

Ambulances with sirens blaring raced to the scene, where Kato's rented white Isuzu truck was abandoned with a shattered windshield on streets that were closed to traffic on a balmy Sunday afternoon.

Hundreds of stunned pedestrians stared from a distance as medical workers set up green plastic sheets in the middle of an intersection to ensure privacy as they gave emergency treatment.

"I was shocked to hear the news as I've visited this place quite often," said Wataru Amano, a 26-year-old truck driver who often visits Akihabara. "I could have been a target if I had been here a few hours ago."

"I'm afraid this will give a negative image on Akihabara, where people are coming from around the world," he said.

Akihabara is best known for major electronics stores and in recent years has mushroomed into a haven for Japanese subculture, pulling in tourists from home and abroad interested in comic books and video games.

Akihabara's attractions range from a museum of Japanese animation to cafes where waitresses dress as maids and video-game characters.

It is also a major commuter hub.

"When I passed by, I saw a man collapsed on the street. He was stabbed in the chest and bleeding badly," a young woman said. "He was unconscious."

It was seven years to the day since a mentally disturbed man went on a rampage with a butcher's knife at the Ikeda elementary school in the posh suburbs of the western metropolis of Osaka.

Mamoru Takuma, who had an apparent grudge against children of the elites, stabbed to death eight youngsters.

At Takuma's sentencing, the judge called the killings "one of the most heinous cases in Japan's criminal history."

Takuma was executed in 2004 at the age of 40.

The elementary school attack stunned Japan, which prides itself on its safety, and authorities moved to step up security at schools. - AFP/ac/ms