Madman Attacks Children At Daycare

A man went on a rampage at a Belgian day care centre on Friday, stabbing two young children and a female worker to death and sending 10 other children to the hospital, officials said.

Sobbing parents rushed to the scene and to hospitals, as officials reported some of the wounded children were in serious condition.

Local prosecutor Christian Du Four said the man was arrested in a nearby supermarket not long after causing widespread panic during the 1000 (0900 GMT) attack in Dendermonde, 20 miles (30 kilometers) northwest of Brussels.

Du Four and witnesses said the man entered the Fabeltjesland day care centre and immediately began attacking the young children.

Du Four said the man's face was painted white and his eyes black. The man went into two separate rooms in the centre, he said.

The dead included two children, ranging in age up to 3, and a woman working in the day care centre, which serves 18 children.

Du Four said up to 30 people were believed to have been in the centre at the time of the stabbings.

Du Four did not immediately identify the suspect, who was injured as police detained him and taken to a nearby hospital.

Belgian Interior Minister, Guido de Padt, said he was shocked and offered his condolences to the parents affected.

Media reports said the man had a history of mental illness.

Du Four said police showed digital photographs of the youngsters who had been taken to the hospital to shaken parents, asking them to identify their children.

The city used a nearby community centre to provide psychological counseling to victims and witnesses of the stabbings.

Witnesses told Belgian media that the perpetrator arrived at the centre on his bike.

After he was let in, he began to stab anyone in his vicinity.