TOKYO, DEC 26: Fourteen people were injured in a stabbing attack in a factory in central Japan during which an unspecified liquid was also sprayed, an emergency services official said on Friday.

“Fourteen people are subject to transportation by emergency services,” Tomoharu Sugiyama, a firefighting department official in the city of Mishima, in Shizuoka region, told AFP.

He said a call was received at about 4.30 pm (0730 GMT) from a nearby rubber factory saying “five or six people were stabbed by someone” and that a “spray-like liquid” had also been used.

Japanese media, including public broadcaster NHK, reported that police had arrested a man on suspicion of attempted murder.

  The seriousness of the injuries was unknown, although NHK said all victims remained conscious.

Sugiyama said at least six of the 14 victims had been sent to hospital in a fleet of ambulances. The exact nature of the injuries was also unclear.

 The factory in Mishima is run by Yokohama Rubber Co., whose business includes manufacturing tyres for trucks and buses, according to its corporate website.

                  Violent crime is relatively rare in Japan, which has a low murder rate and some of the world’s toughest gun laws.

                  However, there are occasional stabbing attacks and even shootings, including the assassination of former prime minister Shinzo Abe in 2022.

                  A Japanese man was sentenced to death in October for a shooting and stabbing rampage that killed four people, including two police officers, in 2023.

                  A 43-year-old man was also charged with attempted murder in May over a knife attack at Tokyo’s Toda-mae metro station.