Elderly Japanese woman slashes passers-by

Tokyo: A 79-year-old woman slashed two women with a fruit knife near a crowded Tokyo railway station because she wanted police help, police said on Saturday.

The elderly woman was arrested from the scene. The victims were only slightly injured in the attack on Friday, a spokesman at the Shibuya police station said.

The woman had run away from a shelter and did not have money. “I thought if I caused an incident, the police would take care of me," the spokesman quoted her as saying.

The incident was the latest in a string of such attacks in Japan. In June, a man who said he was tired of life went on a stabbing rampage in Tokyo, killing seven people.