A four-year old girl was beheaded by a man when she along with her mom was on their way to a metro station in Taipei, the island's capital, yesterday.
The 33-year-old man attacked the girl with a cleaver in full view of her mother.
The child had been riding her bike about a meter away from her when it became stuck. The mother saw the man approaching and thought that he was going to help her daughter but, instead he drew a knife and decapitated her.
"I saw the suspect slashing my daughter with a cleaver. I immediately grabbed him but I could not pull him away," CNN quoted the mother as saying.
The mother screamed for help and bystanders rushed to restrain the attacker until police arrived.
According to initial investigation, the suspect has been identified only by his surname Wang.
More From This Section
He had waited near the metro station after allegedly purchasing the knife at a supermarket earlier that day.
Reports say that the man had a history of mental illness and had received treatment at a psychiatric hospital.
He has been detained at a police station for further interrogation.
In a similar kind of incident, a 21-year-old Taiwanese man Cheng Chieh in 2014 , went on a mass stabbing spree on the Taipei metro system, killing at least four people and injuring 24 others.