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Girl (12) and man (39) die following mass stabbing incident in Japan

Over a dozen people were injured, and there was no immediate motive for the attack.

Japan Stabbing Attack Officers at the scene Jae C. Hong / PA Images Jae C. Hong / PA Images / PA Images

A KNIFE-WIELDING attacker killed a 12-year-old schoolgirl and a man before stabbing himself to death outside Tokyo today, in an attack that also injured more than a dozen, including several children.

The mass stabbing in the town of Kawasaki, south of the Japanese capital, was a rare attack in a country with one of the lowest rates of violent crime in the developed world, and there was no immediate detail on the suspect’s motive.

Kiyoshi Matsuda, deputy director of the Nippon Medical School Musashi Kosugi Hospital, told reporters that the 12-year-old schoolgirl and a 39-year-old man had succumbed to their injuries.

Local media reported that the suspected attacker, a man in his 50s, had also died of his wounds. Emergency services said at least 16 others had been injured in the attack.

Japan Stabbing Attack Students from the Caritas school leaving with their parents Shinki Kita / PA Images Shinki Kita / PA Images / PA Images

“It is a very harrowing case. I feel strong anger,” Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said in televised remarks.

“I offer my heartfelt condolences to the victims and hope the injured recover quickly.”

According to local media, eyewitnesses saw a middle-aged man clasping a knife near the bus stop where the children were waiting, shouting “I will kill you”.

A local man living nearby, who identified himself as Matsumoto, 25, said he went outside after hearing screams.

“It’s hard to describe what it was like, how it sounded. It wasn’t girls having fun, it was a sound that was absolutely not normal,” he told AFP.

“I saw a man lying on the street. I also saw a girl hunched over on the ground. There were also five or six girls, maybe they were the ones who screamed… There was blood all over them.”

‘Prayers and sympathy’

The attack occurred during the busy early morning commute as workers headed to their offices and children to school. Fire department officials said they received the first emergency calls shortly before 8:00 am local time (midnight Irish time).

The scene of the attack was still swarming with emergency personnel hours later, with three police vans parked around the spot to block it from view.

Japan Stabbing Attack Rescuers work at the scene. AP / PA Images AP / PA Images / PA Images

Emergency workers set up an orange medical tent to treat the wounded, and ambulances and fire engines were parked nearby.

A white school bus with blue stripes was parked at the site, with the name “Caritas Gakuen (school)” written on the side, said an AFP correspondent at the scene.

The bloodshed came as Donald Trump wrapped up a state visit to Japan, and the US president offered his “prayers and sympathy” to the victims as he met troops outside Tokyo.

Standing aboard a Japanese military ship, he said that “all Americans stand with the people of Japan and grieve for the victims and for their families”.

A local resident, who declined to give his name, said children attending the Caritas school lined up for the bus at the site every day.

“If you live in this neighbourhood, everybody knows that these kids are there,” the 66-year-old told AFP.

“I’ve been in this area for a long time, I cannot believe that somebody targeted this bus and targeted these small children.”

‘Serious injuries’

An official at the St Marianna University School of Medicine said a “woman in her forties and three girls… suffered serious injuries”.

“They will go through surgery for the injuries, mainly to their heads and necks. After that, they will be transferred to the ICU,” said Takehito Otsubo, the hospital’s assistant director.

Japan Stabbing Attack The school bus near the scene of the attack AP / PA Images AP / PA Images / PA Images

Police earlier told AFP one suspect had been detained and an eyewitness told local media that the man had stabbed himself.

“I saw a man holding a knife… I couldn’t see clearly, but he apparently stabbed himself in the neck,” one eyewitness told NHK.

The broadcaster said two knives were spotted at the scene, but there was no immediate confirmation.

The country has famously strict gun control regulations and gun crime is unusual, but there have been a few high-profile stabbing attacks.

 - © AFP 2019

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    Mute Aurelio Na Fodhla
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    Jun 30th 2022, 6:55 AM

    It’s like a repeat of a bad dream I had…

    122
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    Mute Handsome McWonderful
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    Jun 30th 2022, 9:01 AM

    @Aurelio Na Fodhla: Leo will be quoting movies again. Zoom parties will be had. Tony will get the band back together. Curves will be flattened and sourdough baked.

    65
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    Mute Anna Carr
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    Jun 30th 2022, 8:01 AM

    Will it ever go away? I’m so over it. No one’s even listening to advice anymore, it’s just us all sort of winging it. I’m going for jab no. 4. How many others are? Just curious.

    82
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    Mute The Ghost of Dublin
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    Jun 30th 2022, 8:24 AM

    @Anna Carr: I have had four jabs, was following mask protocols, and as far as I know I’ve never had Covid.

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    Mute Anna Carr
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    Jun 30th 2022, 9:28 AM

    @The Ghost of Dublin: I’ve done the same but I got covid…. Very mild…. Still going for number 4 though

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    Mute Michael McGrath
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    Jun 30th 2022, 2:06 PM

    @Anna Carr: Are you not starting to question the fact that you need 4 injections of the one “vaccine” in little over 12 months and still got covid anyway. If your healthy the likelyhood is you would only have got a mild dose of covid in any case. This putting down to only getting a mild dose of covid because your vaccinated is ridiculous when the vast majority of cases are mild anyway vaccinated or not(this is not having a go at you personally it’s the narrative that’s being put out constantly in the media) . Now if you are in anyway immunocompromised I stand corrected and apologise.

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    Mute Fiona Fitzgerald
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    Jun 30th 2022, 4:00 PM

    @Michael McGrath: I’d still say that anything we do to reduce exposure is healthy. I’ve heard several people who were runners before and can barely get around the house now. The less viral load the better.

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    Mute Michael McGrath
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    Jun 30th 2022, 4:41 PM

    @Fiona Fitzgerald: So your in agreement that we continue taking injections every three months can’t see it happening tbh and the infrastructure just isn’t there to do it, it’s not even really there to do it every twelve months. Since the EUCDC is saying its not worth a jot against the new strains what’s the point

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    Mute Brendan Odonnell
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    Jun 30th 2022, 9:02 AM

    Really annoyed as my daughter had to ring the Coombe maternity hospital after contacting Covid to find out that pregnant women with covid are at risk of blood clots and need to be put on blood thinners as a precaution. Why is this not mentioned anywhere ????

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    Mute Anna Carr
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    Jun 30th 2022, 9:30 AM

    @Brendan Odonnell: wow I had no idea of this. I hope everything goes well for your daughter and impending grandchild.

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    Mute Brendan Odonnell
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    Jun 30th 2022, 11:54 AM

    @Anna Carr: thanks and please God all goes well for them both. It affects those under 26 weeks and so mad that she had to ring after a neighbour mentioned it to her in passing. Thanks once again

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    Mute Kayleigh Furlong-Folan
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    Jun 30th 2022, 12:12 PM

    @Brendan Odonnell: Not sure if this is possibly just isolated to your daughter or the coombe now maybe have introduced this. I caught covid at 7weeks, and I was under the Coombe and did ask about blood thinners and they said no. They will monitor more closely towards the end however! I hope she keeps well!!

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    Mute Maeve O'Sullivan
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    Jun 30th 2022, 10:48 AM

    I’m sorry I barely got past the first line … “as we head into the summer months” …. It’s nearly July and not even a hint of summer yet!

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    Mute Damien Leen
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    Jun 30th 2022, 7:59 AM

    Seriously…bloody isolate then go from there.

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    Mute Dave Barrett
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    Jun 30th 2022, 8:38 AM

    @Damien Leen: Just drive on. No more than a bad cold now. Rate of rising prices, petrol and mortgages no one will be able to afford stay home from work.

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    Mute lelookcoco
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    Jun 30th 2022, 8:40 AM

    @Dave Barrett: A bad cold for some but not all. And why even put up with a bad cold of it can be avoided

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    Mute Thomas O' Donnell
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    Jun 30th 2022, 9:14 PM

    @Dave Barrett: When did a bad cold ever lead to such high absenteeism in summer months?

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    Mute Stanley Marsh
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    Jun 30th 2022, 1:25 PM

    Given that we are now literally at the height of ‘summer’ where are all those who claimed Covid was purely a seasonal virus?

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