Three stabbed at London station in ‘terror incident’

A machete-wielding man reportedly screaming “this is for Syria” stabbed three people at a London Underground train station before police used a stun gun to arrest him, an assault Scotland Yard described as a “terrorist incident”.

The attack by a man in his late 20s at Leytonstone Tube station, about 10 km east of central London, came just days after Britain launched its first air strikes against terrorist targets inside Syria. Police were called to reports of people being attacked by a knifeman who was reportedly shouting “this is for Syria” at the station last evening. In the attack, a 56-year-old man suffered knife wounds which were serious but not life-threatening while two other people sustained minor injuries.

An amateur video footage of the scene showed passengers, some with children, running away as a man lies in a pool of blood in the ticket hall of the station. The attacker was pinned down by police officers armed with a Taser. When police first fired the Taser at the suspect it did not work, and the attacker was seen on video still to be standing. The officers then fired a Taser at the suspect again, which sent him crashing to the floor. Police said that initial reports indicated that the man had also threatened other bystanders.