2 members of Japanese pop group AKB48 attacked

This picture taken on June 8, 2013 shows Japanese girls’ pop group AKB48 member Rina Kawaei during the group’s concert at the Yokohama stadium. Kawaei and her teammate, Anna Iriyama as well as one male staff had their hands slashed by a 24-year-old man with a saw during the group’s handshake event with fans in Takizawa city in Iwate prefecture. AFP

TOKYO – Two members of the all-female Japanese pop group AKB48 and one staffer have been injured by a saw-wielding man at a fan event.

Japanese media reports and a statement on the group’s official blog say that 18-year-old Anna Iriyama and 19-year-old Rina Kawaei were cut on their hands and head. A male staff member also was cut on the hand.

They were taken to a hospital late Sunday afternoon for treatment.

Police arrested the attacker, a 24-year-old unemployed man.

The incident happened in Takizawa city in northeastern Japan.

AKB48 is a wildly popular song and dance troupe that has spawned affiliates across the country and in Indonesia, China and Taiwan. It has a rotating cast of more than 90 young women known in Japan as “idols.”