Suicidal farmer firebombs hurt students
(Shanghai Daily)
Updated: 2006-01-16 09:59

A farmer in east China's Anhui Province threw a flaming gasoline-filled bottle into a classroom on Saturday morning, injuring 24 students and teachers.

The man then committed suicide by jumping from a third-story window. He died on the spot.

At 6:35am, the farmer, Li Guosheng, forced his way into the No. 2 Dongzhi Middle School in Anhui's Dongzhi County.

He flung the flaming bottle into the classroom where teachers were supervising students preparing for exams.

The classroom is on the third floor of the Art Building.

The injured were hospitalized and in stable condition, according to Xinhuanet.

At 9:30am on Saturday, Chizhou City Party Secretary Tong Huaiwei and Mayor Xie Dexin went to Dongzhi County and asked local departments to investigate the case and try to calm the students and their families.

Tong and Xie also went to the hospital to visit the injured. No one was in critical condition.

Staff said yesterday the school had returned to normal.

Li was a farmer at Qingshan Town, in Dongzhi County of Chizhou City.

Some reports said he committed the crime because of personal grudges, but no details were available about his motivation.

The case is still under investigation.

In the past two years, China has suffered several grisly attacks at schools and kindergartens, often blamed on personal grudges or people with psychiatric problems.

On the morning of December 3, 2004, a man forced his way into the central primary school in Mingcheng Town, Panshi City, in northeast China's Jilin Province, and wounded 12 students with a knife.

The man was captured by the school security guards and public security officials.

Five boys and seven girls were wounded, but all recovered.

Reports at the time said the man suffered from psychiatric problems and had hurt others 10 years before.

A five-year-old boy and his teacher were killed at a Beijing kindergarten in October, 2004. The boy's body was found in a washing machine.

In September, 2004, a man with a knife and homemade bombs attacked 28 children in a kindergarten in Suzhou, in east China's Jiangsu Province. No one was killed.

In August, 2004, a janitor stabbed 15 children and three teachers at a Beijing kindergarten, killing one.

In May, 2004, a 28-year-old villager armed with two kitchen knives slashed 15 primary school students and two local residents at a school in Dangchang County, Gansu Province.

No deaths were reported.