Two men killed four children and seriously wounded at least eight others Sunday at an indoor skating rink in China's northwest region of Xinjiang, before one of them committed suicide, state media said.
The two unidentified men rushed into the skating rink on the third floor of a commercial building, which houses markets on the lower floors, and killed four children, said Xinhua news agency, without saying how they died.
One of the assailants then jumped out of the building and killed himself, while the other was arrested by police.
Police were trying to determine a motive for the attack.
China has been dogged by a series of attacks on children in the past year.
In December a man forced his way into a primary school in northeast Jilin province and slashed 12 young children before cutting his own throat
In November a man stabbed eight teenagers to death as they slept and injured four others after breaking into a school dormitory in central Henan province.
Other recent attacks include a man with a knife and homemade bombs targeting 28 children in a kindergarten in east China's Suzhou city. No one was killed.
The spate of violence against children prompted the government to issue a nationwide plan aimed at improving security in schools and kindergartens.
Some experts have blamed the increase in violent incidents in China, including growing cases of mass murder, on increasing economic disparity and loosening social controls.