London.- A 13-year-old boy died on Tuesday following five people, including two police officers, were injured by a man wielding a sword in east London, police announced.
“It is with great sadness that one of those injured in this incident, a 13-year-old boy, has died from his injuries,” Chief Superintendent Stuart Bell of the Metropolitan Police told reporters.
The man armed with a sword attacked several people and two police officers in the east London community of Hainault on Tuesday before being arrested, police said. Emergency teams treated five people who were taken to hospitals, according to the city’s Ambulance Service.
The incident is not being treated as a terrorist act.
The Metropolitan Police said they received a call early Tuesday reporting that a vehicle had crashed into a house on a residential street and that several people had been stabbed near the Hainault metro station.
The 36-year-old man was arrested at the scene, police said.
Witnesses said they heard officers yelling at the suspect to put his gun down as they chased him.
“It must have been a terrifying incident for those affected,” said Ade Adelekan, deputy police commissioner. “I know the community at large will be shocked and alarmed. “People will want to know what has happened and we will provide more information as soon as we can.”
Police do not believe there is a threat to the community as a whole, he noted.
“We are not looking for any more suspects,” he said. “The incident does not appear to be related to terrorism.”
London Transport said Hainault tube station was closed due to a police investigation in the area.
The police received a call “shortly before 07:00” to go near a metro station in the Hainault area where according to witnesses “several people had been stabbed.”
“A man was arrested with a sword,” it reported in a statement, specifying that, according to witnesses, the suspect had attacked bystanders “and two police officers.”
The London ambulance service stated on the social network X that it had “attended five people” who were taken to hospital.
“We are awaiting information on the condition of the injured,” police said.
Images posted on social media and picked up by British media showed a white man, wearing black pants and a yellow hooded sweatshirt, sword in hand, walking erratically in front of houses, while police cars surrounded the scene.
Witnesses reported hearing screams and screams.
“The attack does not appear to be linked to terrorism,” said Ade Adelekan, a police official cited in the statement.
Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak lashed out at a “dreadful incident”.
“Such violence has no place in our streets,” he wrote on the social network X.
The mayor of London, Labor Sadiq Khan, said he was “absolutely devastated” by the attack.
Knife and sword attacks are on the rise in the UK.
According to official figures, last year they increased by 7%, to almost 50,000, in England and Wales.
In London, they soared 20%, with 14,577 attacks recorded, returning to their pre-coronavirus pandemic levels.
Last week, Sunak criticized the London mayor’s security policy, on the eve of the municipal elections scheduled for this Thursday.
(With information from AP and AFP- Infobae)
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2024-05-05 11:11:34
