A mentally ill man went on a stabbing rampage as students left an elementary school, killing a second grader and an elderly passer-by and wounding five others, a government website said yesterday.

It was the second random attack on schoolchildren in three weeks.

The attack in Hepu County of southern China's Guangxi region happened just after classes were dismissed at the Xizhen Elementary School yesterday afternoon, according to a statement on the website of Beihai city, which oversees Hepu.

The attacker, whom the official Xinhua News Agency said was about 40 years old, was chasing people near the gate of the school. He was detained by police after the attack, Xinhua said, but gave no other details, such as his name or motive for the attack.

The injured included two elementary school students, a younger child not yet in school and two other passers-by, the Beihai statement said. They were taken to hospital, where one was in a serious condition.

The attacks come after a crime which shocked China on March 23, when a former medical worker stabbed eight children to death as they stood outside the gates of their elementary school in southern Fujian province.

Zheng Minsheng reportedly said in court that he had been rejected by a woman and treated unfairly by her wealthy family, and admitted to "intentionally killing" the children.

Mr Zheng, 41, was sentenced to death earlier this month.