Detectives search address in east London after man held on suspicion of attempted murder over knife attack in which two people were injured
Material pointing to a terrorist motive has been found by detectives investigating the suspect in a knife attack at a London tube station in which two people were injured on Saturday night, police have said.
A man armed with a knife allegedly shouted “This is for Syria” and “blood will be spilled” during the incident at Leytonstone station in east London.
Scotland Yard has revised down the casualty count, saying two people, not three, were hurt in the attack just after 7pm. A 56-year-old man was seriously injured and the other person did not need medical help. One woman was allegedly threatened but was uninjured.
A 29-year-old man was Tasered by officers and arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. Police are not seeking anyone else in connection with the attack.
Videos of the scene show passengers, some with children, running away as a man lies in a pool of blood. Police said the 56-year-old victim’s injuries were not life-threatening.
The UK terrorism threat level remains at “severe”, meaning an attack is highly likely. Government and security officials have not seen the need to hold an emergency meeting of Cobra, the government’s crisis committee. It has met after past terrorist incidents to coordinate the response.
If found to be terrorism, it would be be the first violent jihadi attack on Britain’s streets since May 2013, when a soldier was killed outside a London military barracks.
Cdr Richard Walton, from Scotland Yard’s counter-terrorism command, which is investigating the attack, said: “As a result of information received at the time from people who were at the scene and subsequent investigations, I am treating this as a terrorist incident.”
On Sunday, detectives were searching an address in east London, where they are likely to be looking for evidence of radicalisation.
Police said officers reached the scene of the attack five minutes after the alarm was raised, and tried to engage with the man but were threatened with violence. They fired a Taser several times at the suspect and he fell to the ground. He was arrested three minutes after police first reached the scene.
Counter-terrorism police and the security service MI5 assess that about 2,000 people in the UK pose a threat of engaging in terrorism. The suspect arrested at Leytonstone station is not believed to have been of special concern.
Read more:
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/dec/06/leytonstone-tube-knife-attack-police-material-terror-motive
