A man armed with a knife killed six people and wounded 14 others in a city in eastern China, state media reported Sunday.

The attack occurred Saturday afternoon in the streets of Anqing, Anhui province, 430 kilometres (270 miles) west of Shanghai, state television CCTV said.

The suspect was arrested and an investigation was underway to determine the circumstances of the attack that unfolded in a pedestrian shopping street, Anqing Public Security Bureau said in a statement released on the Weibo social network.

Quoting the bureau, CCTV said the suspect was 25 years old, unemployed, and “angry”.

The authorities had earlier reported five dead. A badly injured victim died in hospital on Saturday, CCTV said.

Knife attacks are not uncommon in China, which heavily restrict access to firearms.

In April, a man with a knife killed two children and injured 16 others at a nursery school in southern China.

In 2018, a man who stabbed nine children to death and wounded another 11 in northern China was sentenced to death.

Violent crime has risen in China in recent decades as the country’s economic boom has created a bigger gap between rich and poor.

Studies have also described a rise in the prevalence of mental disorders. (AFP)

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