China school attack kills at least three children

An unidentified person wielding a knife slashed more than 20 children and staff in the school in the eastern city of Zibo, Shandong province, on Tuesday.

Fatal school attacks have become common across China; nine people died in a kindergarten knife attack on 12 May.

Also in May, a man was sentenced to death for stabbing 29 people at a kindergarten in Jiangsu.

Some told reporters the faces of the children were so badly damaged by the attacker, they couldn't recognise them.

Local residents told the BBC that four people had died; some reports say one was a teacher, the three others were children.

The area around the kindergarten was sealed off after the attack on Tuesday afternoon.

A spate of school attacks in China earlier in the year has led authorities to try to limit media coverage of such incidents.

Security has been increased at many schools but not all of them can afford it, our correspondent says. Kazinform cites BBC. See www.bbc.co.uk for full version.