Tokyo:
A high school student was stabbed to death and another injured by an unknown assailant at a McDonald's restaurant in southwestern Japan on Saturday evening, local media reported.
The students were rushed to hospital after the stabbing at the McDonald's in Kitakyushu city, Fukuoka Prefecture, Jiji news agency said.
The female student died while the other victim, a boy, was conscious, it added.
According to Jiji, a male suspect fled at around 8:30 PM (1130 GMT) and police were looking for him.
According to police, the suspect is probably armed with a knife.
Violent crime is rare in Japan, which has strict gun laws. But there have been occasional stabbings and even shootings, including the 2022 assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
In 2019, two people, including a schoolgirl, were stabbed to death and more than a dozen injured in the Japanese city of Kawasaki during a rampage by an attacker who targeted children as they waited for a bus.
The 51-year-old attacker lashed out at a group of children before fatally stabbing himself in the neck.
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