A foreign man was killed in downtown Beijing on July 11, the municipal public security bureau said.

At 3:20 pm, an unidentified attacker stabbed the man at the entrance of the Qudeng Hutong in Qianmen Street, Xicheng district, local police said. The man died on the spot.

The attacker was detained by patrol police officers, the bureau said.

At 7 pm, the hutong - a narrow alley common in Beijing - which is about 300 meters long, was quiet, but four police cars were still parked in the area.

Police officers at the Dashanlan police station, which is responsible for the area, refused to provide additional information about the case, saying it is still under investigation. Dashanlan, also known as Dashilan, is one of Beijing's oldest commercial districts.

According to a witness, a waiter at a restaurant near the crime scene, the victim was about 40 years old and had blond hair. The attacker stabbed the man in the neck.

“The victim was bleeding after the attack. The police and an ambulance were quick, but the man was already dead,” said another unidentified witness, who also saw the attack.

Their claims couldn't be independently verified.

In May, also in the Qianmen area, a US man was attacked by a knife-wielding assailant. Suspect Wang Taicun, a native of Shandong province, was arrested.