Stabbing rampage near Tokyo leaves 3 dead including suspect

TOKYO - An elementary school girl and a man in his 30s have been pronounced dead after a stabbing rampage close to Japan's capital city of Tokyo on Tuesday morning, which also saw the suspect die of a self-inflicted injury, local police said.

Fifteen other school girls were injured in the mass knife attack, which is believed to have been carried out by a man in his 40s or 50s who was taken into custody but later died as a result of a self-inflicted knife wound to his neck, according to the police.

Local police said that among those injured in the frenzied attack, two girls and a woman in her 40s are currently being treated for serious injuries.

The local fire department was alerted to the incident, which took place in a residential area near Noborito Station in Kawasaki City, which lies to the west of Tokyo, at around 7:45 am local time.

The elementary school girls, who were waiting for their bus at the time of the rampage, are believed to be pupils of the Caritas Elementary School, a private Catholic school in Kawasaki.

The school is currently gathering information as to whether the victims attend the school and has yet to confirm whether the deceased and injured pupils are attendees.

During the fatal attack, the suspect is believed to have stabbed his victims with knives which he was wielding in both hands.

The bloody scenes left in the wake of the mass stabbings have been cordoned off by police and crime scene investigators, according to local media reports.

Police have retrieved two knives from the scene of the attack.