Hammer attack at Tokyo university wounds at least 8; woman arrested

Tokyo - At least eight people were wounded in a hammer attack at a university in Tokyo on Jan 10, and the assailant is a woman said to be in her 20s, Japanese media said.

All the wounded people are conscious, according to public broadcaster NHK, which cited police sources as saying that the afternoon attack took place at Hosei University’s Tama Campus.

Jiji Press said a woman in her 20s had been arrested. Broadcaster FNN said the assailant appeared to be a student in her 20s, who had been stopped by university staff.

Police could not immediately confirm details to AFP about a rare instance of violent crime in Japan, which has strict gun control laws.

Live footage on NHK showed a line of emergency vehicles with flashing lights at the campus in the suburban Machida district of the Japanese capital.

There are occasional stabbings and sometimes even shootings in Japan, including the assassination of former prime minister Shinzo Abe in 2022.

In December, a junior high school student was stabbed to death and another wounded at a McDonald’s restaurant in south-western Japan. A man was later arrested over the attack.

The teens were in line to order food at around 8.30pm when the attacker reportedly entered the restaurant in the city of Kitakyushu and stabbed them both.

In 2019, two people including a schoolgirl were stabbed to death and more than a dozen wounded in the Japanese city of Kawasaki in a rampage by an attacker who targeted children as they waited for a bus.

The 51-year-old attacker slashed at a group of children before fatally stabbing himself in the neck.

In January 2022, three people were stabbed outside the prestigious University of Tokyo before nationwide college entrance exams.

The victims included an 18-year-old boy, a 17-year-old girl and a 72-year-old man, police said at the time.

Police arrested a 17-year-old, who was detained at the gates of the university after the early-morning attack.

He was not taking the exams and was not acquainted with the three victims but told police he “wanted to die after causing an incident as I didn’t do well in my studies”, public broadcaster NHK reported.

The two teenagers did not sustain life-threatening injuries but the 72-year-old was severely wounded, according to local media.

NHK said the university, where 3,700 students were scheduled to take the tests, went ahead with the exams as planned. AFP