Eleven people injured in violence that also left two others dead on Wednesday in suburban Shanghai remained hospitalized on Thursday, as witnesses praised those who subdued the knife-wielding assailant.

Ai Kaixing, president of Fengxian Central Hospital, said that most of the injured - including six children, 8 to 10 years old - were wounded on their heads by the assailant, who slashed the victims with two knives.

The hospital brought in orthopedists and neurosurgeons to treat the victims, Ai said. None of the injuries is considered life-threatening.

The city's education commission demanded that all kindergartens and primary and middle schools improve their campus security.

The commission alerted the institutions to increase security forces to guard the school gates and said the gates must be shut while students are in class.

Police said the investigation is continuing, and a test has yet to be done on the suspect's mental condition.

The assailant, identified by police only as Zang, started to slash randomly at passers-by at the gates of a primary school in Fengxian district on Wednesday after he is believed to have killed two women during a family dispute.

Zang, 37, had an argument with his sister and her mother-in-law in the women's apartment just before slaying the pair and going on a rampage, witnesses said.

A neighbor of the women who gave his name as Xia said Zang had asked his sister if he could borrow money to buy an apartment, but she refused. The three then argued.

Zang arrived in Shanghai on Tuesday from neighboring Jiangsu province, police said.

Police said he then jumped into a busy street in the district's Jinhui township and began slashing people randomly, police said. He quickly shifted his attention to children who had been walking from the campus of nearby Jinhui Primary School.

On Thursday, parents escorted their children to the school, which is securely guarded by police officers. Many parents said they would feel relieved only after seeing their children enter the classrooms.

Hong Yulong, the school's principal, said the five boys and a girl injured in the violence are second- and fourth-graders at the school. The school invited psychological counselors on Thursday to talk with teachers and students.

The attack took place in the township's busiest section at about 4 pm when the street, was full of people.

Witnesses said the crowd subdued the attacker only after realizing he was injuring people.

"People didn't realize what was going on at first," said Wang Tongyong, a locksmith who has a stall nearby. "We thought it was a traffic accident."

Once the crowd understood what was happening, people grabbed whatever they could find on the ground to fight off the attacker, he added.

One of the first people in the crowd to restrain the assailant was Xia Yongxin, 40, who was going to school to pick up his child.

There was a lot of blood on the ground and some yelled that people were slashed, making him realize what was happening, said Xia, who was injured in the fight with the suspect and hospitalized on Thursday.

"He (the suspect) was holding a knife in his right hand, and attacked whoever he encountered," Xia said.

His face covered by blood, the suspect muttered "Chop you to death!" as he continued attacking, Xia recalled.

To stop the suspect, Xia fought him at first with a mop picked up from a nearby shop, later switching to a shovel.

The shovel was broken in the fight, and Xia was slashed several times before the crowd rushed up to subdue the suspect, Xia said.

"Many came up to help restrain the suspect. I would have been dead if they hadn't helped," Xia said.

Before police arrived and arrested Zang, some of the children and their parents fled to the school to escape.

"When I arrived at the school, children were hiding everywhere. They were terrified," said the father of a first-grader who gave his name as Li. "You dared not look into their eyes. You'd be shocked by the fear that was in those children's eyes."

He said that the school's two security guards failed to protect the youngsters.

"One stood close to my wife, but he didn't make a move," he added.

But school principal Hong said the guards closed the gate in a bid to keep the suspect out of the school.

wangzhenghua@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 03/29/2013 page4)