Picture used for illustrative purposes only.

Liu Xiaohui was arrested at 10:50pm on Wednesday, about 12 hours after the morning attack, the Anfu county police said in a statement. He had fled and gone into hiding, the statement said.

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Police did not provide any information on the identity and ages of the victims.

China's Global Times newspaper reported that at least one victim was a child and that the attacker is believed to have been armed with a knife.

China upgraded security at schools following a spate of of deadly attacks in recent years attributed largely to people bearing grudges against society or with mental illnesses.

China does not allow private gun ownership, so most such attacks are carried out with knives, homemade explosives or gasoline bombs.

Around 100 children and adults have been killed and hundreds injured over the past decade in apparently uncoordinated "lone wolf" attacks in which the motive was unclear. The mostly male assailants were either killed, ended their lives or were put on trial and executed.

Acts of violence against China's youth resonate especially strongly due to the country's chronically low birth rate, partly due to decades of population control policies.