Massive manhunt after policeman stabbed in Japan

A massive manhunt is underway in the western Japanese city of Suita after a police officer was stabbed several times in the chest with a kitchen knife and his loaded handgun stolen while on patrol on Sunday morning.

The attack sparked a manhunt with police using loudspeakers at a railway station to warn people to be on alert. He was attacked in front of a police box as he likely followed two officers after a telephone call reporting a theft.

Police suspect the attack may have been pre-meditated as there was no theft and a security camera showed a man, who appeared in his 30s, hanging around the police box about an hour before the stabbing.

The stabbing comes two weeks before Japan hosts a leaders’ summit of the Group of 20 major economies in the neighbouring city of Osaka. It also follows an incident last month in which a knife-wielding middle-aged man killed a girl and an adult, injuring another 17 people near Tokyo.

Via Times of Japan