Transport police step up patrols after Leytonstone ‘terror attack’

Police arrested a 29-year-old man late on Saturday and said they were treating the “violent unprovoked knife attack” at east London’s Leytonstone subway station as a “terrorist incident”.

One bystander called out: “Drop it, you fool” as the man was held down by police.

We are treating this as a terrorist incident.

Onlookers also shouted “Drop it, you fool”, referring to the knife, and “Who is this idiot?”.

The video appears to show the knifeman wildly gesticulating and confronting several people in the station, before slashing a man in the throat area.

Three people have been injured after a man attacked commuters in a London station with a knife whilst shouting “This is for Syria”. Detectives were searching a residential address in east London on Sunday afternoon as part of the investigation, police said. The Leytonstone Underground Station in the east London had been cordoned off by the police following the stabbing incident on Saturday.

“One man has sustained serious knife injuries; these are not believed at this stage to be life-threatening”.

“Matthew Harper said: “#youaintnomuslimbruv is the most #London response to terrorism you could imagine and pretty much sums up how we all feel about these maniacs”. Britain’s national terror threat level was raised in Aug 2014 to severe, the second-highest of five levels, meaning an attack is considered highly likely.

Three people were injured in the attack, one seriously. Leytonstone station was open again yesterday, with a police officer standing guard outside.

One of the officers reportedly shouted “Tazer, Tazer, Tazer” before discharging the weapon.

Following the attack, Transport for London ceased all services between Liverpool Street and Woodford / Newbury Park while the scene was examined.

‘We sent a number of resources to the including our joint response unit, an incident response officer, an ambulance crew and London’s Air Ambulance to the scene. “I was inside the shop and I heard screaming and shouting”, Salim Patel, who works in the station, said.

The 56-year-old was taken to hospital as a priority and treated for stab wounds, officials said.

“I saw the guy attacking the victim, punching him so hard”, he said.

The claim could not be independently verified, but the incident comes just days after Parliament approved British airstrikes on Islamic State group targets in Syria.