Chinese man hurt 5 children before killing himself

China today ordered stepped up security around schools across the country as panic gripped the nation as yet another attack on school children left five kindergarten kids and a teacher injured in the third such attack in as many days.

A man identified as Wang Yonglai, a farmer from Shangzhuang Village, soaked in gasoline barged into a primary school and hit five tiny tots and their teacher with an iron hammer at Shangzhuang Primary School in Weifang City in the east.

After the gruesome act, Wang Yonglai, a farmer from Shangzhuang Village the man yet to be identified committed self-immolation, official Xinhua news agency reported.

As the wave of attacks continued, authorities also increased police patrols outside schools and campuses, and educational institutions were ordered to hire full time security staff.

When he was stopped by teachers and staff, he grabbed two children and set himself ablaze. The two children were pulled away by teachers, but the man died on the spot.

All five injured children had been taken to hospital, where doctors said their conditions were all stable and not life-threatening, he said.

The attacks reportedly being carried out by depressed unemployed men to vent out their anger hogged the headlines in the tightly controlled domestic media overshadowing the coverage of the multi-billion dollar Shanghai Expo being organised by China to show case its industrial might.

The expo expected to be visited by 70 million is due to be opened for public tomorrow.

Analysts say that the attacks if anything else, exposed the soft under belly of the undercurrents of China's social, political and economic order driving some of the marginalised people to lunatic acts of violence.

Today's attack took place even as the perplexed Chinese government ordered more security for lakhs of schools across the country with a set of guidelines for teachers and parents.

Eleven school children have been killed and 64 others including few teachers injured in six gory attacks since March in different parts of China sending shock waves among people.

More shocking are the confessions by attackers, mostly failures in China's fast changing social and economic order, proudly proclaiming that they chose to target primary schools because they are soft targets to vent their anger  frustration against the powerful elite.

Chen Kangbing, the 33-year-old art teacher, who attacked a primary school in Leizhou of Guangdong province on April 28, stabbed 15 students and a teacher and said he chose to do so to have an "influence" on society.

Yesterday, Xu Yuyuan, 47, who lost his job, attacked children and adults with a knife.