A 28-year-old man was arrested in the city of Osaka on Thursday after allegedly ramming his car into seven schoolchildren in a suspected deliberate attack, according to police.

The children, who had been on their way home from school, were injured and rushed to the hospital but all seven remained conscious. One suffered a serious injury to their face, police said.

Yuki Yazawa, an unemployed resident of Tokyo who was driving the vehicle, was arrested by the Osaka Prefectural Police on the spot on suspicion of attempted murder.

According to police, Yazawa said he was "fed up with everything," and that he tried to kill schoolchildren by ramming his car into them.

The car was "zigzagging" as it hit the children, with one girl "covered in blood and other kids suffering what appeared to be scratches," a witness told broadcaster Nippon TV.

Yazawa was "wearing a surgical mask and looked like he was in shock" after he was dragged out by schoolteachers, Nippon TV quoted a witness as saying.