Twenty-eight children and three adults were injured when a man with a knife attacked them at a kindergarten in east China Thursday.

Five of the children are critically ill in hospital after the attack in the Zhongxin Kindergarten in Taixing City, Jiangsu Province, said city government and police sources.

Many of the injured children are 4 years old and of the same class.

Police have detained a 47-year-old man who is alleged to have carried out the attack at about 9:30 a.m., said a Taixing Police spokesman.

The three adults have been identified as two kindergarten teachers and a security guard.

This was the second knife attack on children in China in two days. A man attacked 16 pupils and one teacher with a knife at a primary school in south China's Guangdong Province Wednesday afternoon.

Five of the injured schoolers in the Guangdong attack case are still critically ill in hospital by Thursday morning. The man identified as Chen Kangbing has been detained by police in Leizhou City of Guangdong.