At least seven schoolchildren were killed and 12 were injured after a man attacked them after class in Mizhi county in China’s Shaanxi province on Friday, The People’s Daily reported. The newspaper, which is owned by the Communist Party of China, quoted local government officials as saying the suspect had been detained.

The China Daily said that five girls and two boys at the No 3 Middle School had died, and nine girls and three boys had been admitted to hospital. The suspect, named Zhao, reportedly attacked the children because he wanted revenge for being bullied when he was a student at the school, unidentified officials from the county’s public security bureau said.

More details are awaited.

Several knife attacks have occurred in China in recent years, BBC reported. At least 25 children died and more than 100 were injured in attacks at Chinese schools between 2010 and 2012, the network said. In February, a knife-wielding man killed a woman and injured 12 people at a shopping centre in Beijing.