Stabbing in London-bound train wounds 10, 2 suspects arrested

LONDON – Police arrested two suspects after a mass stabbing on a London-bound train late on Nov 1 that left 10 people in hospital, nine likely with “life-threatening injuries”.

Armed police, backed by police cars and ambulances, swarmed the station in eastern rural town Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, after the alarm was raised and the train was brought to a halt.

“Ten people have been taken to hospital following a multiple stabbing on a train in Cambridgeshire. Nine are believed to have suffered life-threatening injuries,” British Transport Police said on X, adding that counter-terrorism units were supporting the investigation.

The identity of the two people arrested was not immediately known, nor was the motive for the attack.

Transport police confirmed the train was running from Doncaster in the north-east to King’s Cross Station in London, a route often packed with travellers.

A witness described seeing a man with a large knife and told The Times newspaper there was “blood everywhere” as people hid in the washrooms.

Some passengers were getting “stamped (on) by others” as they tried to run, and the witness told The Times they “heard some people shouting we love (you)”.

Witnesses told Sky News they saw a man holding a large knife on the platform after the train halted before he was tasered and restrained by police.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the “appalling” incident was “deeply concerning”. “My thoughts are with all those affected, and my thanks go to the emergency services for their response,” he said on X.

“Anyone in the area should follow the advice of the police,” he added. His interior minister Shabana Mahmood confirmed two people was taken into custody.

‘Multiple patients’

Armed police were at the scene after they were alerted at around 7.40pm local time (3.40am Singapore time on Nov 2), just after the train left the town of Peterborough.

Late on Nov 1, police were inspecting the train, which was being treated as a crime scene. People were led away outside the station in space blankets, an AFP photographer saw.

The East of England Ambulance Service said on X it mobilised a “large-scale response” to Huntingdon station, including deploying ambulances, air ambulances and tactical commanders.

Train operator London North Eastern Railway (LNER) said all its railway lines had been closed while emergency services dealt with the incident at Huntingdon station.

LNER, which runs trains along the east of England and Scotland, urged passengers not to travel, warning of “major disruption” with the lines blocked in the area.

It serves major stops including in London, Peterborough, Cambridge, York and Edinburgh, and trains are often packed.

The mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Paul Bristow said on X: “Hearing reports of horrendous scenes on a train in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire.” He added that his “thoughts are with everyone affected”.

Knife crime

Knife crime in England and Wales has been steadily rising since 2011, according to government data.

While Britain has some of the strictest gun controls in the world, rampant knife crime has been branded a “national crisis” by Mr Starmer.

His Labour government has tried to rein in their use.

Nearly 60,000 blades have been “seized or surrendered” in England and Wales as part of government efforts to halve knife crime within a decade, the interior ministry said on Oct 29.

Carrying a knife in public can be punishable by up to four years in prison, and the government said knife murders had dropped by 18 per cent in the last year.

Two people were killed – one as a result of misdirected police gunfire – and others wounded in a stabbing spree at a synagogue in Manchester
at the start of October, in an attack which shook the local Jewish community and the country.

A man appeared in a London court on Oct 30 charged with murder after a stabbing attack in broad daylight which left one dead and two injured. AFP