A fight between shop owners turned to be a gruesome knife attack. 

One man was beheaded while another stabbed to death, in a shopping mall in China's Shaanxi Province. Another person is seriously injured. 

Chinese media outlet Sina reports, the attacker is now under police custody and an investigation is underway.

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The quarrel between shop owners broke out at about 1:00 pm, at the third floor of a mall in the city of Yan'an.  The arguments led the attacker to behead one person, and stab two others.  The other fatality died after being sent to the hospital.

Photos of the deadly attack were immediately posted in social media sites.

Chinese news site China Central Television (CCTV) also posted in its Twitter account, photos showing police and hundreds of people gathering outside the mall. 

Shaanxi's city of Yan'an is not a usual destination for foreign visitors.  It is considered to be a pilgrimage site for those who strongly follow the communist philosophy. 

Knife attacks in China had been rampant  since 2010, and authorities had attributed most of it to personal grudges. 

Some sociologists blame the spate of attacks to stress, brought by rapid social change, disparities in wealth and weakening of traditions. 

Tagsman, beheaded, chinese shopping mall, knife attack, yan'an, Shaanxi province