Eight persons were killed and 17 injured in a knife attack at a vocational school in east China's Jiangsu Province on Saturday, local police officials said.

The attack took place at around 6:30 pm at the Wuxi Vocational Institute of Arts and Technology in Yixing City.

The 21-year-old suspect, surnamed Xu, was caught at the scene and he confessed to his crime, according to a statement released by the public security bureau of Yixing, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

According to the police, Xu, a graduate of the school this year, returned to the school to vent his anger for not receiving his graduation certificate due to failing exams and for dissatisfaction with his internship pay.

Rescue efforts are underway and police are further investigating the case, the report said.

This is the second attack on civilians this week.

On November 12, thirty-five people were killed and 43 injured when a man ploughed his car into a crowd of people at a sports centre in Zhuhai city.

Police who detained a man called Fan said his actions stemmed from his dissatisfaction with the property division outcome of his divorce.

Expressing concern over the incident, Chinese President Xi Jinping urged all-out efforts to treat the injured.

Car ramming incidents, besides knife attacks on civilians, have been taking place periodically in China in recent months. The incidents are routinely blamed on disgruntled elements by security officials.