London – Two people were injured at an east London metro station on Saturday night. The police described the event as a terrorist incident because the attacker who stabbed the two men, allegedly screamed “this is for Syria.”
A 56-year-old man was seriously wounded, but is now in a stable condition at a London hospital. A second victim suffered minor injuries and did not require medical attention. A woman was also threatened, but was not injured.
Mr. Patel, an eyewitness reported he had heard someone shouting, but didn’t pay much attention because sometimes drunk people behave that way, but then he saw the guy attacking the victim, punching him hard. The victim was screaming, “Please somebody help me. Help,” but then the attacker started kicking the victim on the floor, Mr. Patel said. After that, the attacker took a knife out and started stabbing the victim.
Video footage of what happened in the stations have been posted on social media. It shows officers approaching a man waving an object in his hand around the ticket area of the station and using a Taser gun to subdue him the police yell, “Drop it! Right now!”
Someone present at the moment of confrontation shouted, “Yes! Stupid idiot!” when the man fell to the ground. The footage shows an officer kicking something away on the floor as the man lay handcuffed on the ground. An eyewitness can be heard saying, “You ain’t no Muslim, bruv.” Some parts of the video also show a large pool of blood spattered on the station floor.
“As a result of information received at the time from people who were at the scene, and subsequent investigations carried out by the Counterterrorism Command… I am treating this as a terrorist incident,” Cmdr. Richard Walton, head of the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command, said in a statement.
The confrontation led to a 29-year-old man arrested as a suspect of the knife attack at 7:15; just about 15 minutes after the police received the emergency call.
Police urged people to remain calm but alert and vigilant. The United Kingdom is now facing threats from ISIS since British fighter planes began flying maneuvers against ISIS targets in Syria. Commander Richard Walton, who leads the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, said the threat from terrorism remains at severe, which means that a terrorist attack is highly likely.
Source: CNN