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Japanese man wounds 13 in knife attack

A Japanese man armed with a knife has stormed aboard two buses and wounded 13 people, mostly schoolchildren, outside a train station north-east of Tokyo, police and media reports say.

No one was killed, but Kyodo News agency reported that four of the injured had been stabbed, with the others hurt as they fled the scene.

A fire department spokesman said 11 of the injured were school students.

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Police said they had arrested a 27-year-old unemployed man identified as Yuta Saito after the attacks in Toride city.

A police spokesman in Toride said the attacker boarded two buses, one of which was a school bus.

"The suspect got onto the buses and wielded a knife and slashed passengers in there," the spokesman said.

"The incident occurred on a school bus and then on another bus for ordinary citizens that were both parked in front of the station.

"We can say at this moment that at least 13 people were wounded."

One of those injured in the attack had wounds that would require several weeks in the hospital, while the others were not seriously injured, local fire department spokesman Shireka Iyoka said.

Witnesses to the morning rush-hour attacks subdued the attacker, who also sustained some injuries.

Jiji Press news agency said a 49-year-old woman and 11 junior high and high school students were among the injured.

The attacks occurred in front of Toride Station, Ibaraki prefecture, about 40 kilometres north-east of Tokyo.