At least 11 people were killed and 44 others 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, reports Reuters.
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.
