Nine people suffered life-threatening injuries on Saturday night after a stabbing attack on a train in central England that Prime Minister Keir Starmer described as “deeply concerning.”
Two people were arrested after the attack, which British Transport Police (BTP) declared “a major incident,” adding that counterterrorism officers were supporting the investigation. BTP also declared “Plato” – the national codeword when responding to a “marauding terrorist attack” – before later rescinding this.
Police said 10 people were taken to hospital, nine of whom suffered life-threatening injuries. No fatalities have been reported from the incident.
Officers were called at at 7.42 p.m. to a report of the attack on the service from the northern city of Doncaster to London’s King’s Cross. Armed officers were deployed to Huntingdon station, where the train made an unplanned stop and the two people were arrested, police said.
More than 12 hours after the incident, police had yet to reveal details about the suspected attackers.
Britain’s Defence Minister John Healey told Sky News on Sunday that the incident appeared to be an “isolated attack.”
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Huntingdon
Passenger saw suspect tasered
Wren Chambers, who was on the train when the attack happened, told the BBC she initially “heard some screaming and shouting” coming from a carriage or two down.
“A minute or so later a man… was running down with a very clear wound, bleeding quite badly on his arm. And I thought it was like some sort of Halloween prank at first. But then he’s shouting that someone’s got a knife, he was stabbed,” she said.
After seeing more people running down the train, Chambers grabbed her bag and coat. “I got up and moved forward down the train after them, trying to get far down the train as they can.”
Another witness who was traveling on the train said he saw an “extremely bloodied” victim. The man, who gave his name as Gavin, told Sky News he believed he saw a suspect tasered before he was arrested.
He said police shouted “Get down, get down” as they got closer to him.
“He then was waving a knife, quite a large knife, and then they detained him,” the eyewitness said.
“I think it was a Taser that got him down in the end,” he said.
Another male passenger, Olly Foster, told the Daily Mail he’d been listening to an audiobook when the attack happened. “A young girl was distraught as kra39 at the attacker tried to stab her, but a hero of an older man got in the way taking a gash on his forehead and I think another on his neck,” he said.