Japan Mass Stabbing: At Least 14 Injured In Attack Near Tokyo, Reports Say

A stabbing attack in a town near Japan's capital Tokyo has injured at least 14 people, according to NDTV. People were stabbed by a man with a knife in a rubber factory in Mishima, west of Tokyo. An unspecified liquid was also sprayed.

Authorities confirmed that the attacker was detained at the factory and is now in custody, as per local media.

“Fourteen people have been transported by emergency services,” said Tomoharu Sugiyama, an official from the firefighting department in Mishima, located in Japan’s Shizuoka region, speaking to news agency AFP.

Sugiyama explained that he received a call at around 4:30 p.m. from a rubber factory reporting that “five or six people had been stabbed by someone” and that a “spray-like liquid” had also been used during the attack.

The facility is operated by Yokohama Rubber Co., a company known for manufacturing tires for trucks and buses.

Violent crime remains relatively rare in Japan, which has one of the world’s lowest murder rates and some of the strictest gun control laws.