Update | Fatal Henan bus slashing suspect found 'eating watermelon'

A man from Anyang, in Henan province, suspected of killing three children and wounding 12 passengers in a brutal knife attack on a bus was captured by police yesterday, sitting in a market, wearing bloodstained clothes and eating watermelon, state media said.

The bus was carrying 33 passengers from Anyang to Beiguo township on Monday afternoon when the attacker struck. The youngest of the dead was a 10-month-old girl who died in hospital. The two others were boys aged 10 and 17, who died on the way to hospital.

China Central Television identified the attacker as Zhou Jiangbo, a 24-year-old from Neihuang county under Anyang city. The man, who police said had a criminal record, attacked the bus in anger over a family dispute, the report said.

The day before the attack, he had reportedly injured three people in his hometown after an argument with neighbours.

He was seized around noon yesterday as he ate watermelon in a market in Xincun township, 17 kilometres from where the attack occurred. He was still wearing clothes stained with blood from the attack, CCTV said, citing staff at the municipal public security bureau.

The man was recognised by market-goers after police posted wanted posters with a simulated picture of the attacker. Fingerprints and DNA tests proved him to be the wanted man, the said.

The quoted passengers on the bus as saying the attacker boarded the bus smelling strongly of alcohol around 3pm. Minutes later, he forced the driver to crash into an oncoming truck. The vehicles swiped against each other and were only lightly damaged.