SAPPORO - Police arrested a 27-year-old man Thursday on suspicion of attempted murder after the stabbing of a 21-year-old woman in Chitose on Japan's northernmost main island of Hokkaido, police said.
The woman, identified as Sri Rahayu, an Indonesian, was later confirmed dead at a hospital. The suspect, Mahmudi Agung Laksana Aji, also of Indonesian nationality, is believed to have been acquainted with her, according to the police.
Police had earlier responded to a call reporting a man with a knife. A police officer sustained injuries while attempting to restrain the suspect, they said, adding that a male acquaintance of the woman was also injured.
The fire department said the woman may have fallen from the staircase of an apartment building before or after she was stabbed.
"I saw a woman collapsed on the road," a neighbor in her 50s said. "Then an ambulance came and emergency workers were performing CPR."
The incident occurred in a residential area about 1.8 kilometers northwest of JR Chitose Station.
