A man broke into a primary school Friday morning and injured 12 pupils with knife in Mingcheng township of Panshi, a city in northeast China's Jilin Province. 

The grade-one pupils, five boys and seven girls, were rushed to hospital for treatment.

Four had serious injuries to their heads, backs and arms, but are now out of critical danger, according to sources with the No. 3 Jilin Municipal Hospital.

After attacking the students, the man cut his own throat. School staff and police rushed him to hospital.

The man, a resident of Mingcheng township, had attacked people with knife 10 years ago during a fit provoked by mental disease, according to Zhang Yonglu, director of the Education Department in Panshi.

Police, however, could not determine whether he was suffering from a mental breakdown during this attack.

(Xinhua News Agency December 3, 2004)