French woman stabbed in knife attack in Beijing

BEIJING (AFP) - – A French woman was attacked in Beijing near Tiananmen Square on Saturday, a French diplomat said in an attack that came two days after a man with a knife killed two and injured 14 in the same area.

Saturday's attack occurred just before noon near the south end of Tiananmen Square, with police capturing the attacker on the spot, a spokesman for the French Embassy in Beijing told AFP.

"The attack was not serious, the woman was not hurt seriously and has already rejoined her tourist group," the spokesman said, declining to identify the victim.

Xinhua news agency said the elderly French woman had been rushed to hospital after the attacker, identified as Dou Mingxiang, 41, from east China's Jiangxi province, slashed her.

Police are investigating the case, it added.

On Thursday, a 46-year-old man identified as Zhang Jianfei stabbed two people to death and wounded 14 others in Beijing, state media reported.

The attacks come amid heightened police patrols ahead of the October 1, National Day, which this year marks the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

A police statement reported that 14 people were hurt in the Thursday attack but did not confirm media reports that two had been killed.

Both attacks occurred in the Dashilan commercial district just south of Tiananmen Square, where huge celebrations will be held on October 1 to mark the country's National Day.

China is planning a military parade, mass song and dance performances, and fireworks centred on Tiananmen Square to celebrate the founding of the communist state.

With recent riots in China's western-most Moslem populated Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region and violent unrest in Tibet last year, the government has said security measures in the capital will be more severe than during the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

At that time, a knife-wielding Chinese man stabbed to death a relative of the US Olympic volleyball coach just before the Games opened.

The assailant then jumped to his death from Beijing's historic Drum Tower monument where the killing took place.