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4th acid attack in busy HK area injures 9

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-09-06 22:00

HONG KONG: An attacker hurled acid at pedestrians in a crowded Hong Kong shopping district Sunday, injuring nine people in the neighborhood's fourth acid attack in a year.

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Television footage showed two victims being carried on gurneys to ambulances, their heads covered in bandages.    

Police spokesman Chau Yau-fai said the attacker, a 28-year-old man arrested nearby, targeted a couple strolling through the Mong Kok district but also hurt seven others. Assistant District Commander Angela Ng said the couple quarreled with the suspect before the attack.

Sunday's assault was unrelated to the previous ones, which started last December and injured some 100 people, Chau said. In those attacks, acid apparently was tossed from neighboring buildings. No one was arrested.

Mong Kok, which means "busy corner" in Chinese, is a densely populated area in Kowloon across the harbor from Hong Kong island, with narrow streets crammed with snack vendors and shops.