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SHANGHAI - A Chinese man armed with a knife killed five policemen on Tuesday when he went on a stabbing frenzy at a Shanghai police station in what authorities said was a revenge attack.
The man stabbed nine officers and a security guard at the station in the north of the city, the Shanghai public security bureau said in a statement.
Officers quickly overpowered and arrested the man, an unemployed 28-year-old Beijing native, police said, but five police were killed in the attack.
The man, identified only by his surname Yang, confessed he had wanted revenge after police arrested him in October on suspicion of stealing bicycles.
"He was unhappy ... In order to take revenge, he decided to commit criminal actions," the statement said.
The killings occurred as China was gearing up for next month's 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, an event that has resulted in stepped up police security throughout the nation.
According to the statement, the man set a fire outside the police station's front gate at around 9:40am local time, attracting the security guard's attention. He stabbed the guard and then charged into the station.
"He broke into the building, attacking policemen who were at work," the statement said.
Police in blood-soaked clothes could be seen being carried out, the state-run Eastday.com news website reported, citing witnesses.
Some of the officers had chest injuries while others' faces were bloody, the Xinhua news agency reported citing a witness named Yi.
At least one officer was declared dead upon arrival at hospital within half an hour of the attack and another died shortly afterwards, a Changzheng Hospital spokeswoman said on condition of anonymity.
Two other officers were in intensive care, but their conditions were stable, she added.
Officials refused to comment at Beizhan hospital where the other victims were taken.
Violent crime is unusual in China, but the speed with which Tuesday's attack was reported by Shanghai's state media was also rare.
Eastday.com published frequent updates, posting news of the deaths well before officials were ready to confirm them.
Authorities, however, quickly pulled pictures off one photo sharing website that showed blood pooling in the gutter outside the station.
The killings come after up to 30,000 people took to the streets in a county town in China's southwest Guizhou province on Saturday, protesting and rioting over a police investigation into the death of a teenage girl.
Protesters claimed the girl had been raped and killed by a relative of a local official who had ordered the police to cover up the crime.
On Tuesday, central authorities reopened the case and in a rare acknowledgement admitted that the unrest was due to dissatisfaction with the government. - AFP/ir
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