One schoolgirl has been killed in a mass stabbing by a knife-wielding man at a bus stop near Tokyo, Japanese authorities have said.

At least 19 people have been wounded, including 12 schoolgirls, and one adult has also died, a city official has said.

The suspect, believed to be in his 40s to 50s, allegedly carried a knife in each hand and screamed “I will kill you” before attacking the group of children waiting at a bus stop in in Kawasaki city, south of the capital, on Tuesday.

He was unconscious when he was detained and later died at the scene after reportedly stabbing himself in the neck, NHK TV in Japan said.

The schoolgirls, aged around six to seven years old, were students at a private Catholic school and were waiting with their parents at a bus stop at approximately 7.45am.

Police and emergency services were called to the site to treat 13 children and several adults for knife wounds.

Officers recovered two knives at the scene, though his identify and motive for the attack are still unknown.

An unidentified witness told NHK: I heard screaming, then I saw a man standing with a knife in each hand.

“Then he crumbled to the ground.”

Citing the police, NHK reported that a bus driver told officials that a man holding a knife in each hand walked toward the bus and started attacking the children.

Television footage showed emergency workers giving first aid to people inside an orange tent set up near the scene, and police and other officials carrying the injured to ambulances.

Some Japanese media outlets are reporting at least three deaths, while some are saying two, however it was not immediately clear how many people had died.

US President Donald Trump, who is on a visit to Japan with first lady Melania, offered his condolences to the victims.

He said: “On behalf of the first lady and myself I want to take a moment to send our prayers and sympathy to the victims of the stabbing attack this morning in Tokyo.

“All Americans stand with the people of Japan and grieve for the victims and their families.”

Mr Trump made the comments whilst on a tour of a Japanese navy ship at the Yokosuka naval base located south of Tokyo.

Violent crime is extremely rare in Japan and the country has one of the lowest rates of crime in the developed world.

Occasional high-profile incidents have shocked the nation, with more than a dozen people injured in a 2010 stabbing spree on a school bus and a commuter bus in a Tokyo suburb.

Two years earlier, a 28-year-old man drove a truck into a crowded pedestrian crossing in Tokyo, killing three people, and before stabbing four others to death.

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