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Japan police search home of stabbing attacker

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TOKYO: Japanese police on Wednesday searched the home of the man behind a stabbing rampage in the town of Kawasaki a day earlier that killed two people, including a child.


The 51-year-old attacker, identified by police as Ryuichi Iwasaki, died after stabbing himself after the rampage, and his motives for the horrifying assault remain unclear.


On Wednesday police searched his home, not far from the scene of the morning attack, seizing unspecified material, public broadcaster NHK reported.


Local media said Iwasaki was living with relatives in their 80s, but gave no further details. His occupation was unknown.


Police had no comment on the investigation and declined to offer any further details about the attacker.


The rampage in the town south of Tokyo on Tuesday morning killed two people — 11-year-old schoolgirl Hanako Kuribayashi and a 39-year-old parent identified as government official Satoshi Oyama, a Myanmar specialist.


Seventeen more people, mainly young children, were injured, according to authorities.


Iwasaki crept up silently behind pupils of the Caritas school as they waited for a bus and began slashing randomly at them with knives held in both hands before fatally stabbing himself in the neck.


Local media, citing police sources, said on Wednesday that the attack took less than 20 seconds to unfold and that two additional knives were discovered inside the attacker’s backpack, which he had left at a nearby convenience store.


Limited details emerged late on Wednesday about the attacker, although his motive remained unclear.


NHK, citing local officials, said the suspect had been living with his uncle and aunt and that they and other relatives had consulted with Kawasaki city officials 14 times between November 2017 and January 2019 over their concerns about Iwasaki.


They told local officials that he had not held a job for a long time and had “hikikomori tendencies,” using a term in Japanese for people who shut themselves off from the outside world, often for years.


But his relatives subsequently told the city to hold off contacting Iwasaki, officials said.


Neighbours said they had little interaction with the middle-aged man.


A female neighbour told Kyodo news agency that Iwasaki had said good morning to her 40 minutes before carrying out the attack, an interaction she described as unusual.


The news agency said Iwasaki was believed to have gone to local schools as a child, but there was no confirmation.


A man who identified himself as having taught Iwasaki in junior high school — when the suspect was around 14 — told NHK he was “not the kind of child who stands out”.


“He and his friends would shove each other playfully, but he didn’t attack anyone violently,” the teacher said.


In the wake of the attack, Japan’s government said it would review measures to ensure the safety of children travelling to and from school. — AFP


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