A man who seriously injured two female overseas students in Shanghai by hitting them with a hammer was venting his anger on random passers-by, according to police.

The man, identified by police as Hu, a native of Bengbu in nearby Anhui province, was detained, and the two young women, a 22-year-old Indonesian citizen and a 20-year-old French citizen, were hospitalized.

At about 11:20 am on Friday, police in northern Shanghai's Baoshan district received a report that two women had been attacked on Shangda Road and were lying on the ground with bloodied heads.

Police officers and medical workers were sent to take the women to a hospital and search for the suspect.

About 10 minutes later, officers captured the suspect, Hu, on Hutai Road and seized an iron hammer he was carrying.

Police said over the weekend that Hu had been embroiled in a dispute with others before randomly attacking passers-by.

The two victims are believed to be students at Shanghai University's College of International Exchange.

School officials and the consulates of France and Indonesia could not be reached for comment on Sunday. However, overseas students in Shanghai said the incident did not generate much concern about the safety of the city.

"We still have confidence in Shanghai's public security," said Nguyen Anh Tu, a Vietnamese student studying at Shanghai University.

Students also said the university had been trying to lessen the effects of the attack by asking them not to talk about it with outsiders.

The incident was reminiscent of two series of violent attacks in the 1990s and 2000s in Shanghai, in which culprits hit women on the head with an ax or hammer before robbing them.

In 1997, Wei Guangxiu, a native of Anhui's Lixin county, killed two people and injured 12 others with an ax in 13 such attacks and robberies in the districts of Baoshan and Yangpu between February and April.

Another man, 22-year-old unemployed Chen Zhaofeng, attacked seven women traveling alone at night in Shanghai's Putuo, Jing'an and Xuhui districts, from June 2001 to January 2002.

Shanghai's No 2 Intermediate People's Court said Chen used an alcohol bottle and later a hammer to hit his victims' heads, killing two and severely wounding another.

Both Wei and Chen were executed.

wangzhenghua@chinadaily.om.cn