A teenager has been arrested after killing nine people and wounding four others in a knife attack in northeast China, state media reported Thursday.

The 17-year-old, who was identified only by his surname Li, barged into the home of his girlfriend armed with a knife following an argument and killed two relatives of the girl, the Legal Daily said.

As he left his girlfriend's home in Liaoning province's Xinbin county, he stabbed six more people to death and wounded five, it said.

One of the injured died Thursday in hospital, the paper said.

Li was arrested near the scene of the attack, late on Wednesday night, and was taken into custody, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Police had nabbed him as he was preparing to jump from a building in an apparent suicide attempt, it added.

No other details were immediately available. Calls made to local authorities and police in Xinbin county went unanswered.

Violent crime has been on the rise in China in recent decades as the nation's economy has boomed and the gap between rich and poor has expanded at an alarming rate.

Experts say the increase in assaults shows that China is paying the price for focusing on more than 30 years of economic growth while ignoring problems linked to rapid social change.

Studies have described a rise in the prevalence of mental disorders in China, some of them linked to stress as the pace of life becomes faster and socialist support systems wither.

However, authorities stress that murder, which carries the death penalty, remains far less common than in most Western countries. (AFP)

<관련 한글 기사>

무서운 10대, 여자친구 집 난입해 칼부림!

중국 랴오닝(遼寧)성 푸순시(市)에서 1 0대 1명이 행인 등에 칼을 마구 휘둘러 9명이 숨지고 4명이 다쳤다고 지역당국이 2일 밝혔다.

랴오닝성 푸순시 선전부는 신빈(新賓)현 융링 구역에서 1일 밤 9시께 성(姓)이 리로 알려진 17세의 한 남성이 여자친구와 다툰 뒤 여자친구의 집에 난입해 친척  2 명을 칼로 찔러 살해했다고 밝혔다.

사건 현장에서 달아나던 리군은 다른 11명에게도 칼을 휘둘러 추가로 7명이 숨지고 4명이 다쳤다고 시 선전부는 덧붙였다.

경찰은 당일 밤 범행 현장 인근에서 리 군을 체포해 조사하고 있다. 경찰은 그가 범행 후 한 건물에서 투신해 자살하려 했다고 밝혔다.

중국에서는 지난 2010년 초 학생들을 겨냥한 칼부림 공격이 잇따라 발생해 20여 명이 숨지고 50명 이상이 부상한 바 있다.



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