A knife-wielding man stabbed to death four primary school children in southern China on Friday

A knife-wielding man stabbed to death four primary school children in southern China on Friday, state media reported, the latest in a series of such attacks in recent years.
  
Three of the children died at the scene and the other was later pronounced dead in hospital, the official Xinhua news agency said, citing local authorities.
  
The stabbings occurred early in the morning as the children were on their way to school in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the report said. It did not specify the children's ages or genders. The Beijing News daily, however, reported that none of the children were older than 12.
  
Police joined by members of the public were searching mountainous woodland for the suspected assailant, who police identified as a 56-year-old local man surnamed Shi, Xinhua said.
  
The report added that more than 300 people were participating in the manhunt along with sniffer dogs in an area about seven kilometers (four miles) from the site of the stabbings.