Mazda workers mowed down

Toshiaki Hikiji, 42, was arrested an hour later on attempted murder charges after fleeing in his car from Mazda's Ujina plant in Hiroshima prefecture.

Japanese media reports said Hikiji was a contract worker who had been let go in April. He bore a grudge against the car-maker and went there with a knife with the intention to kill, they said.

But a Mazda spokesman said he had quit after working just eight days, citing personal reasons.

Hikiji had ignored security at the gate and drove into the plant as workers were arriving.

The dead man was named as Hiroshi Hamada, 39. One of the injured workers is in a critical condition