TOKYO (AP) — Two members of the all-female Japanese pop group AKB48 and one staffer have been injured by a saw-wielding man at a fan event.
Japanese media reports and a statement on the group’s official blog say that 18-year-old Anna Iriyama and 19-year-old Rina Kawaei were cut on their hands and head. A male staff member also was cut on the hand.
They were taken to a hospital late Sunday afternoon for treatment.
Police arrested the attacker, a 24-year-old unemployed man.
The incident happened in Takizawa city in northeastern Japan.
AKB48 is a wildly popular song and dance troupe that has spawned affiliates across the country and in Indonesia, China and Taiwan. It has a rotating cast of more than 90 young women known in Japan as “idols.”
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