8 people were injured in a Japanese attack with a hammer on a university in Tokyo, according to the media

Tokyo — Eight people were wounded in a hammer attack at a Tokyo university on Friday, and a 22-year-old student was arrested at the scene, Japanese media reported. All of the injured were conscious, according to public broadcaster NHK, which cited police sources as saying the afternoon attack took place at Hosei University’s Tama campus.

NHK and other media said the attacker, a sociology student, swung the hammer during class. Several reports said people were seen bleeding from the head and that a woman said she had repressed frustration at being ignored. The woman was reportedly arrested at the scene.

Police did not immediately confirm details of what appeared to be a rare example of a violent crime in Japan.

Live video broadcast by NHK showed a convoy of ambulances with flashing lights at the campus in the suburbs of the Japanese capital, Machida.

There are occasional stabbings and even shootings in Japan, incl the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2022. A murder with a handmade gun shocked Japan, where firearms are highly controlled and violence of any kind, especially gun violence, is rare.

Hosei University was founded in 1880 as a law school and has 15 faculties, according to its website.

In December, a high school student was stabbed to death and another was wounded at a McDonald’s restaurant in southwestern Japan. A man was later arrested for the attack. The teenagers were queuing to order around 8:30 p.m. when the gunman allegedly entered the restaurant in the city of Kitakyushu and stabbed them both.

In January 2022, three people were stabbed outside a prestigious Tokyo university ahead of the nationwide university entrance exams. The victims include an 18-year-old boy, a 17-year-old girl and a 72-year-old man, the police said at the time.