Stabbing suspect 'wanted someone to stop me'

A 25-year-old factory worker arrested over the killing of seven people in a frenzied attack on a crowd of shoppers in Tokyo has told police he wanted someone to stop him, Japanese media said yesterday.

Tomohiro Kato posted dozens of warning messages on a mobile phone website ahead of the attack, media have said, raising questions about whether the crimes could have been prevented.

In one message posted just before the attack on Sunday, Kato said he was going to kill people in Akihabara, a popular area for buying discount electronic goods and the center of Japan's "nerd" culture of video games, comic books and maid cafes.