Eight injured in hammer attack spree at Tokyo university

Japanese police have arrested a female student on suspicion of carrying out a hammer attack at a Tokyo university that left eight people injured.

The suspect, a 22-year-old South Korean sociology student, was subdued and arrested at the scene of the attack during class at Hosei University‘s Tama campus in western Tokyo.

Police say the assailant attacked a male student, causing minor injuries. Several others also suffered minor injuries as they were hit in succession.

Police received an emergency call around 3.45pm local time, reporting the attack in the classroom where some 150 students studied.

Witnesses said the attacker swung the hammer aimlessly, hitting students seated in the last row of the classroom.

One student told local news that the attacker’s face was expressionless and she did not seem to be targeting anyone specifically.

“Everyone was panicking. I was so scared at first that my hands were shaking,” a student who witnessed the incident told local broadcaster TV Aashi.

Investigators allege that the suspect attacked fellow students using a hammer she found on campus in frustration after being bullied by classmates. Koreans continue to face discrimination in Japan due to a bitter past between the two countries, including Japan’s colonisation of the Korean Peninsula which ended in 1945.

The woman said she “was filled with anger” because she “had been ignored,” the Japan Times quoted police as saying.

It remains unclear whether the attack was premeditated, police say.

Police said the investigation is still ongoing, adding that the eight students who sustained injuries are recovering.

Hosei University said in a statement that the students received medical treatment but did not need hospitalisation.

It said it would cooperate with police in the investigation and would increase efforts to ensure campus safety.

Violent crimes are rare in Japan but high-profile random stabbing and shooting incidents have occurred in recent times.

Last month, a junior high school student was killed and her friend injured as they were waiting in a queue at a McDonald’s restaurant in the southwestern city of Kitakyushu. A man was later arrested over the attack.

In 2022, three people were stabbed, including two students on their way to writing exams at the University of Tokyo. The same year Japan’s former prime minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated with a homemade gun.