BEIJING, Sept 3 — Eight schoolchildren have died and two others were injured in a "school-related criminal case” in central China, with a 40-year-old suspect arrested, local authorities said today, the latest attack targeting an educational institution in the country.

The man was detained by police on the spot following yesterday's incident in Chaoyangpo Village in Hubei province, according to a statement on the website of the government of Enshi city.

The local government is making "every effort” to organise the rehabilitation and treatment for the wounded, including psychological counselling, the statement said.

Officials did not say how the students were killed, but schools have been hit by a number of knife attacks in China in recent years, forcing authorities to step up security.

A knife-wielding man killed two people and injured two others at a primary school in central Hunan province in April.

The wounded were students but the age of the dead was not disclosed at the time.

In October last year, a woman attacked and injured 14 children with a knife at a kindergarten in China's southwestern Sichuan province.

In April 2018, a man killed nine middle school students as they were returning home in one of the country's deadliest knife attacks in recent years. — AFP