Japanese man charged with attempted murder after stabbing incidents

TOKYO: A 34-year-old male suspect has been arrested on charges of attempted murder following two stabbing incidents in the eastern Japanese prefecture of Ibaraki, local authorities said on Monday.

At 10.25 p.m. local time on Sunday, a female employee (34) at a drugstore in the town of Ami, was stabbed multiple times in the abdomen by the suspect, identified as Ryusuke Morita, Xinhua news agency quoted prefectural police as saying.

The victim was found with severe injuries when the police arrived at the scene.

Morita was apprehended nearby on charges of attempted murder to which he admitted.

Another stabbing occurred approximately 10 minutes before the drugstore incident at a nearby convenience store, where a male store employee, aged 49, was stabbed in the back by a man who then fled the scene.

The police are investigating the possibility that the two incidents are related, national news agency Kyodo reported on Monday.