A man with a knife has stabbed 22 children and an adult at a primary school in central China, state media report.

The attack happened at the gate of a school in Chenpeng village in Henan province, Xinhua news agency said. It did not give further details of the extent of the victims’ injuries.

Police had arrested a 36-year-old local man, Xinhua added.

It is the latest in a series of attacks on schoolchildren in the country.

The Associated Press news agency quotes a police officer as saying that the attack happened as pupils were arriving for classes.

A man with a knife has stabbed 22 children and an adult at a primary school in central China

The agency also quotes a county hospital administrator as saying that the man first attacked an elderly woman, then the children, before being overpowered by security guards. He added that two of the injured pupils had been transferred to better-equipped hospitals outside the county.

Some of the attacks in recent years have been carried out by people who have lost their jobs or otherwise felt left out of China’s economic boom.

In 2010, a man slashed 28 children, two teachers and a security guard at a kindergarten in eastern China.

Security guards have been posted across China in response to the attacks.