Manchester police are treating a stabbing attack at Victoria station in the British city on New Year’s Eve as a terrorist attack.
The 25-year-old attacker stabbed two civilians and a police officer with a 12-inch kitchen knife in a rampage during New Year’s Eve celebrations Monday night.
The terrorist – as yet unnamed by police – allegedly shouted Islamist slogans while stabbing the victims at Manchester Victoria railway station. Eyewitnesses said he shouted “Allah” before and during the attack.
“The guy, his exact words were, he said, ‘As long as you keep bombing other countries, this short of sh#$#t is going to keep happening,’” recounted one eyewitness to the Press Association.
Police tried to stop him with a Taser and pepper spray, before half a dozen officers finally tackled him.
A British Transport Police sergeant was stabbed in the shoulder and a man and woman in their 50s were stabbed in the abdomen; the woman was also stabbed in the face. Both are in serious condition. All three were taken to Manchester Royal Infirmary. The police officer was later released.
“I know that the events of last night will have affected many people and caused concern,” Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable Ian Hopkins told reporters at a news conference Tuesday. “That the incident happened so close to the scene of the terrorist attack on 22 May 2017 makes it even more dreadful….
A British Muslim suicide bomber murdered 22 people, including seven children, at an Ariana Grande concert on that day. It was the deadliest of five 2017 terror attacks in the UK that took the lives of 36 people.
“The officers acted with incredible bravery in tackling the armed attacker at the busy Metrolink station and ensured he was immediately detained. He remains in custody here in Manchester,” Hopkins said.
“We are treating this as a terrorist investigation which is being led by counter terrorism officers with support from Greater Manchester Police. They were working throughout the night to piece together the details of what happened and to identify the man who was arrested.”
“My thoughts are with those who were injured in the suspected terrorist attack in Manchester last night,” tweeted British Prime Minister Theresa May. She also thanked the emergency services for their “courageous response” to the attack.
British security officials say they are dealing with some 700 investigations into terrorism. The terrorism threat level in the UK currently stands at “severe.”
Aside from London, Manchester is the locale of one of the largest Jewish populations in the UK. In a ten-year census tken in 2011, the population of the Jewish community in Greater Manchester stood at approximately 25,013, with the community of Bury in Greater Manchester being rated the fifth “most Jewish” location in England and Wales.