3 stabbed at London Tube in ‘terror act’

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

The attack by the 29-year-old man 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.

The police were called to reports of people being attacked by a knifeman who was repo-rtedly shouting “this is for Syria” at the station Saturday evening.

In the attack, a 56-year-old man suffered knife wounds which were serious but not life-threatening while two others sustained minor injuries.

An amateur video 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 the 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.

The police said that initial reports indicated that the man had also threatened other bystanders.

The videos show some people in the tube station hurrying away when they realise a knife attacker is on the loose, while others take out phones and make video recordings and take photos.

The Metropolitan police’s counter-terrorism command is investigating the incident.

“We are treating this as a terrorist incident. I would urge the public to remain calm, but alert and vigilant. The threat from terrorism remains at severe, which means that a terrorist attack is highly likely,” commander Richard Walton, who leads the Met’s counter-terrorism command, said.

A spokesperson for 10 Downing Street said: “There is an ongoing police investigation into the attack in London. We are monitoring the situation closely as further details emerge.”