Shocking moment knife-wielding man tries to rob a woman in broad daylight

A masked man has attacked a woman in broad daylight in a Chinese city before being subdued by a group of heroic passersby.

Dramatic footage shared by the People's Daily yesterday on social media shows the moment when the attacker launched his vicious knife assault in Datong City, Shanxi province, northern China.

Local police on Pingquan Road, Datong City, have started an investigation into the crime, according to reports.

According to the two-minute-long video, the assailant hits his female victim, knocking her to the ground by a busy roadside.

The suspect then started his assault, manically lunging at her several times with a large knife.

As she lies on the road with the attacker on top of her, she screams for help as she courageously fights back, grabbing her assassin's wrist in a desperate bid to protect herself.

A brave passerby dressed in black then spots the assault and rushes over to her rescue, overpowering the frenzied street slasher from behind.

Several more male passersby pile over to join the good Samaritan's counter-attack, beating the mugger up to save the woman from life-threatening knife wounds