A woman was killed and 12 people injured after a guy attacked a knife at a shopping center in Beijing's Sidan district, Reuters reported, citing police.

The attacker was detained. Only his surname was reported, Chu, 35 years from the northern province of Henan. He said he had committed the attack "as an expression of dissatisfaction," but he did not specify what.

The wounded were taken to a hospital where a woman died.

Violent crimes are rare in China compared to many other countries. The measures are security in the big cities are very serious, but in recent years there have been a series of attacks with knives or axes, many of them against children, Reuters noted.

Sidan is located in the western part of Beijing and is one of the main shopping areas of the city. There are one of the largest and most popular shopping and entertainment centers in the Chinese capital.