Man slashed in London 'terrorist incident'

[Rockaria]

Man slashed in London 'terrorist incident'

AAP
December 6, 2015, 9:04 pm

A man wielding a knife has slashed a man in an east London underground station, reportedly screaming "this is for Syria".

Police used a stun gun to subdue him in what they described as a terrorist incident.

A pool of blood near the ticket barriers at the Leytonstone station, about 10km east of central London, could be seen in footage posted on Twitter that also showed the suspect confronting officers at just after 7pm local time on Saturday.

Police said initial reports indicated the man, believed to be aged 29, had also threatened other bystanders.

One 56-year-old man suffered serious but not life-threatening injuries. Two other people had minor injuries, police said.

"We are treating this as a terrorist incident," Richard Walton, who leads the Counter Terrorism Command at London's Metropolitan Police, said in a statement.

An eyewitness quoted by The Guardian and other British newspapers said the attacker appeared to claim that he was retaliating for Western attacks on Islamist militants in Syria.

Police declined to comment on those reports and it was not immediately possible to independently verify them.

The Leytonstone incident will draw parallels with the May 2013 murder of British army soldier Lee Rigby, who was hacked to death just south of the Thames River by two Muslim converts.

Britain is on its second-highest alert level of "severe", meaning a militant attack is considered highly likely, mainly because of the threat posed by Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq who are encouraging supporters to attack the West.

After Islamic State militants claimed responsibility for the attacks on Paris last month that killed 130 people, British Prime Minister David Cameron won approval from MPs on Wednesday to bomb the Islamist group in Syria.

British warplanes first bombed oil fields controlled by Islamic State on Thursday.

An eyewitness to the knife attack was quoted as saying the attacker had screamed about Syria.

"I just saw a lot of people running but I ignored it and kept walking to get my train, but suddenly what I saw, I couldn't believe my eyes and what I saw was a guy with a knife," the Guardian quoted an eyewitness as saying.

"As he was coming out this is what he said: 'This is what happens when you f*** with mother Syria, all of your blood will be spilled.'"

 

[Rockaria]

London Underground knife attacker charged

AAP
December 7, 2015, 1:04 am

British police have charged a 29-year-old man with attempted murder following a "terrorist" knife attack at a London Underground station.

Counterterrorism officers were investigating the "violent unprovoked" attack at Leytonstone Underground Station that seriously injured one man late on Saturday, the Metropolitan Police said.

One unidentified man was arrested at the station and he remains in custody, while detectives were also "searching a residential address in east London".

The 56-year-old victim remains in stable condition in hospital and his injuries are not believed to be life-threatening. A second man was also injured, but did not require medical help.

"As a result of information received at the time from people who were at the scene and subsequent investigations carried out by the Counter Terrorism Command, I am treating this as a terrorist incident," Commander Richard Walton, head of the counterterrorism force, said.

Local media quoted witnesses as saying the suspect was a tall, black man who may have had an Arabic accent.

He reportedly shouted "This is for Syria" before police used Tasers to subdue him.

Walton appealed for more witnesses to contact the police, after several video clips and photographs of the incident were posted online.

 

[Rockaria]

Suspect carried out London knife attack for Syria

Reuters
December 7, 2015, 6:18 pm

A police officer patrols outside Leytonstone Underground station in east London, Britain December 6, 2015. REUTERS/Suzanne Plunkett

By Michael Holden

LONDON (Reuters) - A man accused of attacking a commuter with a knife at an east London underground train station said he was acting for Syria, a prosecutor told a London court on Monday.

Muhaydin Mire, 29, of east London, was charged with attempted murder in attacking a 56-year-old commuter from behind at the ticket gates of Leytonstone underground station on Saturday evening, Westminster Magistrates' Court heard.

Police are treating the incident as a terrorist attack.

The victim's injuries included a 12-cm (5-inch) cut to the neck that required five hours of surgery. A second person suffered minor injuries.

"It was a violent, sustained and unprovoked attack, during which the victim was punched, knocked to the ground and repeatedly kicked on the ground," prosecutor David Cawthorne told the court. "He said he was doing this act for Syria and his brothers in Syria."

The prosecution also said Mire's mobile phone had contained some terrorism-related images and material.

Wearing a grey t-shirt and grey tracksuit bottoms, Mire spoke only to confirm his name, age and address, and neither he nor his lawyer gave an indication of how he would plead to the charge. He was remanded in custody to appear at London's central criminal court, the Old Bailey, on Friday.

Britain is on its second-highest level of security alert, "severe", meaning a militant attack is considered highly likely, though not imminent, mainly because of the threat posed by Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria and Iraq.

AIR STRIKES

Last week, British war planes joined air strikes for the first time against IS fighters in Syria.

"It's obviously a hideous attack," Cameron told reporters in Burton-on-Trent in central England where he was giving a speech.

"First of all, full credit to the person and people who took on this attacker, and full credit to the very brave police officers who managed to subdue him."

Footage of the aftermath of the incident has been published on social media and the phrase "You ain't no Muslim, bruv", which one onlooker is heard to shout, has been widely circulated.

"Let me also pay credit to the person - you can't quite see who it is - from the film who made that brilliant statement about 'You ain't no Muslim'," Cameron said.

After 130 people were killed in Paris last month in attacks claimed by the Islamic State militant group, police in London said they were working to double the number of officers able to carry firearms.

The authorities say British security forces have thwarted seven terrorist plots in the past 12 months and British Transport Police said that, since Saturday, they had boosted the number of officers and patrols on the London underground network.

Four British Islamists killed 52 people in suicide bombings on the capital's transport network in July 2005. The last militant attack occurred in May 2013, when two Muslim converts hacked a soldier to death in east London.

(Additional reporting by William James in Burton-on-Trent, Editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Kevin Liffey)