At least seven students have been killed and another 12 injured in a mass stabbing attack in China‘s Shaanxi province.

A knifeman attacked the group of 19 students near a school in Mizhi County as they were on their way home.

One suspect has been arrested, state news agency Xinhua reported.

Reports in Chinese media said the attack had taken place near a middle school.

It is believed to have taken place at about 6pm local time.

The state-run China Daily website reported that the victims were nine girls and three boys.

The alleged attacker was a 28-year-old former student of No 3 Middle School, surnamed Zhao, who had been bullied there, it reported.

China has suffered a number of high-profile mass stabbings in recent years.

In 2014 five people were stabbed to death in Hunan province before the attacker was shot dead by police, and seven people died when two knife-wielding men attacked a crowd in Xinjiang in 2011.

Two years ago, 10 children were stabbed outside a school in Haikou, on the southern island province of Hainan.

In February a woman was killed and 12 people hurt when a man carried out a knife attack at a busy shopping centre in Beijing.