Suspect in deadly car attack on Chinese town square ‘wanted to take revenge on society’</s>BEIJING (Reuters) - Eleven people were killed and 44 injured after a car plowed into a crowded square in southern China and the driver attacked people with a knife and spade seeking “revenge” on society for previous criminal convictions, the government said on Thursday.

The car drove onto the square in Mishui town, part of Hengyang city in Hunan province, in the early evening on Wednesday, the Hengyang government said in a statement.

The driver, surnamed Yang but whose sex the government did not provide, drove the car alone onto the square, then attacked people using a spade and a knife, the statement added.

Yang has a long criminal record with previous convictions for selling drugs, theft and attacking people, which caused him to harbor a desire for “revenge on society”, the government said.

Yang has been detained, it said, without giving other details.

Video images carried on state media showed several bodies on the ground as bystanders tended to some of them.

The government originally said three people died, but raised the death toll in subsequent statements.

There was no indication that the incident was terror related.

In February, 18 people were injured when a minivan caught fire and mounted the pavement in a busy part of central Shanghai and plowed into pedestrians.

Investigations showed the fire was caused by a driver who was smoking a cigarette inside the vehicle while illegally transporting highly flammable substances.

The government is generally nervous about such incidents after a car plowed through pedestrians in the northern part of Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 2013, killing the three people in the car and two bystanders.

Beijing blamed that on separatists from China’s restive far western region of Xinjiang.</s>BEIJING (Reuters) - Nine people died and 46 were injured after a car plowed into a crowded square in southern China on Wednesday and police have detained the driver, the local government said.

The car drove onto the square in Mishui town, part of Hengyang city in Hunan province, shortly before 8 p.m. (1200GMT), the Hengyang government said in a statement, adding that the driver had a criminal record.

Video images carried on state media showed several bodies on the ground as bystanders tended to some of them.

The government originally said three people died, but raised the death toll to nine in a statement late on Wednesday.

There was no indication in the government statement or state media reports that the incident was terror related.</s>At least 11 people were killed and a further 44 were injured when a car ploughed into crowds in a public square in central China. The driver then exited the vehicle and chased people with a shovel and knife.

The incident took place shortly after 7:30pm local time Wednesday in Hengyang city in Hunan province. A dance event was being held in the Mishui town square at the time of the attack. Video shared by Chinese state media shows scores of people fleeing in panic as the attack unfolded.

Eyewitness footage uploaded to social media shows multiple bodies strewn across the square with people tending to the injured on the blood-soaked pavement, to the sounds of despairing screams all around. During the attack, the suspect exited the vehicle and chased bystanders with a spade and knife, The Guardian reports.

“There was a vicious incident that a person drove deliberately into crowds at Mijiang Square,” the local government said in a press statement, as cited byCNN.

The suspect, a 54-year-old man named as Yang Zanyun from the local area is in custody. He was a known criminal having served various prison sentences for arson and assault convictions.

“[The suspect] has been sentenced many times for drug trafficking, theft, and other crimes, creating a desire for revenge on society,” the Hengyang government statement said. Authorities have no yet given a motive and no official mention of terrorism has been made.

READ MORE: 7 injured in Paris after man armed with knife, iron bar goes on stabbing spree

China has witnessed several mass casualty attacks in recent years including an apparent terrorist attack at the Kunming train station on March 1, 2014 in which 31 civilians were killed and over 140 were injured in a mass stabbing attack perpetrated by six men and two women believed to be Xinjiang separatists.

In April of this year, nine students were killed and 10 injured in a knife attack outside a school in the Shaanxi province in Northern China. The attack was reportedly a revenge attack as the suspect, named only as 28-year-old Zhao, was bullied at the school.

Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!</s>At least nine people were killed and 46 injured on Wednesday night after a man intentionally drove a vehicle into a crowded pedestrian square in a southern Chinese city, according to local officials and state news outlets.

Around 7:30 p.m., a driver plowed his car into several people in the square in Hengyang City, Hunan Province, the local government said in a posting on Weibo, China’s popular social media platform.

The government statement called the attack a “malicious case of intentional driving” and said a man had been taken into custody. An investigation has begun, the statement said, but there was no mention of terrorism as a possible motive.

The injured were taken to hospitals; at least three were in serious condition.

Videos of the incident were posted to social media and widely shared, depicting scenes of carnage and chaos in the square, which was crowded for an event. Several clips from national news networks showed the wounded and dead lying in the square, blood near their crumpled bodies. People ran to their aid, screaming and crying as they frantically sought to help.</s>BEIJING (Reuters) - Three people died and 43 were injured when a car ploughed into a crowded square in southern China on Wednesday and police have detained the driver, the local government said.

The car drove onto the square in Mishui town, part of Hengyang city in Hunan province, shortly before 8 p.m. (1200GMT), the Hengyang government said in a statement, adding that the driver had a criminal record.

Video images carried on state media showed several bodies on the ground as bystanders tended to some of them.

There was no indication in the government statement or state media reports that the incident was terror related.</s>Beijing: Nine people were killed and 46 others injured when a man drove his SUV into a crowd and later went on a stabbing spree in China's Hunan province on Wednesday evening. The attack took place as people had gathered in a square by the river in Hengdong county.

The driver, Yang Zanyun, 54, first ploughed through the people with his vehicle and later got out of it and went on a rampage attacking people with a knife.

Nine people were killed and 46 others were injured, state-run Global Times reported. Yang was detained by the police, who said he has a criminal record and has been jailed several times.

Knife attacks by disgruntled people in public places and schools to highlight their grievances periodically occur in China.

Several bystanders posted graphic video footage shortly after the incident on Chinese social media. In the videos, dozens of people can be seen lying on the ground, some in pools of blood, while panicked crowds and emergency services personnel gather around them, Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.

Local media reports quoted a restaurant manager in the vicinity of the attack as saying that he saw a red Land Rover suddenly ploughing through a crowd of people at a high speed after 7 pm.

A large number of mostly elderly people were dancing or walking in the square after dinner, at that time. Many fell to the ground after they were hit by the speeding SUV.

Uyghur militants from Xinjiang from the East Turkestan Islamic Movement have also, in the past, attacked crowds with speeding cars.</s>(BEIJING) — The death toll has risen to 11 with another 44 people hospitalized after a man allegedly drove an SUV deliberately into a crowd in central China before jumping out and attacking victims with a dagger and shovel, local authorities said Thursday.

The Hengyang city government said the suspect in the case had previous convictions for crimes including drug trafficking, theft and assault and, acting alone, had sought to “get revenge on society.”

That appeared to rule out terrorism, although vehicles have previously been used in attacks blamed on militant Muslim separatists from the Uighur ethnic minority group.

Police identified the suspect as 54-year-old Yang Zanyun from Hengyang’s Hengdong county in the largely agricultural province of Hunan.

Tuesday night’s attack happened in a public square where Chinese typically gather to dance in groups or enjoy the cool evening breezes. The SUV apparently appeared without warning, jumping the curb before plowing into the crowd.

China has experienced violent attacks in public places in recent years, including bombings and arson of buses and buildings.

Occasionally, the attacks are attributed to militant separatists, though such incidents have become less common in recent years amid a stifling security crackdown.

In 2013, an SUV plowed through a crowd in front of Beijing’s Forbidden City before crashing and catching fire, killing five, including the vehicle’s three occupants. Police blamed the attack on Uighur extremists inspired by jihadi ideology.

More commonly though, the motivation is identified as mental illness, alienation from society or a desire to settle scores.

Chinese law restricts the sale and possession of firearms, and mass attacks are generally carried out with knives or homemade explosives. Many of those incidents have occurred at schools, including several in 2010 in which nearly 20 children were killed, prompting a response from top government officials and leading many schools to beef up security.

However, in June, a man used a kitchen knife to attack three boys and a mother near a school in Shanghai, killing two of the children. Last year, police said a man set off an explosion at the front gate of a kindergarten in eastern China, which struck as relatives gathered to pick up their children at the end of the day, killing eight people.</s>BEIJING — An SUV crashed into a crowd at a public square in central China on Wednesday evening, killing at least nine people and injuring more than 40 others, the city government said.

Police arrested the suspected driver of a red SUV that plowed into a large group of people at the square in the seat of Hengdong county of Hunan Province, according to a government microblog account.

Around 46 people were injured, the Hengyang city government office in charge of online information and propaganda said.

The Beijing Youth Daily, a publication of the ruling Communist Party’s youth league, said on its official microblog account police were investigating the crash. There was no mention of terrorism or any other motive.

Police identified the suspect as a 54-year-old Chinese man named Yang Zanyun from the same county who had served several prison sentences for convictions including arson and assault, the newspaper said.

Calls to the Hengdong county public security bureau rang unanswered while an official who picked up the phone at the county government office would only confirm the death toll before hanging up the phone.

China has experienced violent attacks in public places in recent years, including bombings and arson of buses and buildings, sometimes by people trying to settle personal scores or grievances against society.

Occasionally, the attacks are attributed to militant separatists, though such attacks have become less common in recent years. In 2013, an SUV plowed through a crowd in front of Beijing’s Forbidden City before crashing and catching fire, killed five, including the vehicle’s three occupants. Police blamed the attack on Muslim separatists from the Uighur ethnic minority group.</s>BEIING: Three people were killed and 43 others injured when a man drove his SUV into a crowd and later went on a stabbing spree in China 's Hunan province on Wednesday evening.The attack took place as people had gathered in a square by the river in Hengdong county The driver, Yang Zanyun, 54, first ploughed through the people with his vehicle and later got out of it and went on a rampage attacking people with a knife.Three people were killed and 43 others were injured, state-run China Daily reported.Yang was detained by the police, who said he has a criminal record and has been jailed several times.Knife attacks by disgruntled people in public places and schools to highlight their grievances periodically occur in China.Several bystanders posted graphic video footage shortly after the incident on Chinese social media . In the videos, dozens of people can be seen lying on the ground, some in pools of blood, while panicked crowds and emergency services personnel gather around them, Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.
A man plows his car into a crowd of people at a busy square in Hengyang, Hunan, China, before exiting his vehicle and stabbing bystanders. Eleven people are killed and 44 others are injured. The attacker was detained and identified by police as a convicted drug dealer and thief, who said that "he wanted to take revenge on society".