MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Japan is one of the safest countries in the world, but the country right now is coping with a horrifying massacre. A man armed with a knife attacked children at a school yard. At least eight of them were killed, twenty others injured. CNN Tokyo bureau chief Marina Kamimura has details for us.</s>MARINA KAMIMURA CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): School officials say the suspect jumped over a balcony during a morning break, lashing out at dozens of children as he made his way through four classrooms filled with first and second-grade students. Several of them ran into a nearby store for help.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Some kids came in saying there was a murder in the school and people had been stabbed. The child who came in last was bloody from waist down and they asked that an ambulance be called, and then they all started crying.</s>KAMIMURA: Others could be seen running out into the school yard as anxious parents rushed to the exclusive elementary school in a quiet neighborhood of the city of Ikeda in Osaka, Japan. Police arrested the man, a 37-year-old former employee of the another area school who reportedly has a history of mental illness and said he was on tranquilizers at the time of the attack. Local media report the suspect had failed at several suicide attempts and was hoping to be executed. Health and education officials vowed to improve school safety and promised emotional care for the traumatized children, their parents and teachers.</s>DR. TETSURO KOBAYASHI, IKEDA HOSPITAL (through translator): These children have been through a terrible ordeal. And I urge you to look after them until the pain has lessened.</s>KAMIMURA: While this rampage by an intruder on an elementary school is unprecedented on modern Japan, violent crimes are on the rise in this country. Although it's still far better known for being one of the world's safest. Marina Kamimura, CNN, Tokyo.
Armed Man Attack Elementary School Children In Osaka