Xinhua reports that three people were killed and 15 others injured in a knife attack in Shanghai

Three people were killed and 15 others injured in a knife attack at a supermarket in Shanghai on Monday, state news agency Xinhua reported, expanding a series of knife attacks across China this year.

According to Xinhua on Tuesday, the victims were immediately taken to hospital for treatment, but three died.

The attacker, a 37-year-old man surnamed Lin, was arrested by police, who received a report of the incident at 9:47 p.m. local time (1447 GMT), Xinhua said.

An investigation is underway.

Public stabbings have become increasingly common in China over the years, with authorities often blaming mental illness. Children in schools are a common target.

In September, a 10-year-old Japanese student was fatally stabbed by an attacker just meters from his school in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.

That incident, as well as a knife attack on two Japanese citizens in June in Suzhou, a major city in eastern China, have raised security concerns among members of the Japanese community in China.

Stabbings are rare in Shanghai, but not unprecedented.

In 2022, a man carried out a stabbing attack at a major hospital in China’s financial center, injuring 15 people.

The man who authorities said was “angry with society” after an investment failed was sentenced to death a year later.