London: A knife-wielding assailant stabbed three people at a London Underground train station as he screamed “this is for Syria” before being taken into custody.
A man believed to be aged 56 suffered knife wounds which were serious but not life- threatening while two other people sustained minor injuries in the attack.
The Metropolitan police’s counter-terrorism command were investigating the stabbing in Leytonstone in which witnesses claimed the attacker said his actions were linked to Syria.
Police officers tasered the suspect in under eight minutes. An armed response vehicle was also sent to the underground station, but firearms officers were not needed. When police first fired a Taser at the suspect it did not work, and the attacker was seen on video still to be standing. Officers then fired a Taser at the suspect again, which sent him crashing to the floor.
This is the first terrorist attack on British soil since the murder of fusilier Lee Rigby in May, 2013.
The attack came just days after Britain launched its first air strikes against terrorist targets inside Syria.
A fresh wave of Royal Air Force strikes hit a key oil field held by the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant inside Syria yesterday.
