The masked man who stabbed and seriously wounded a passer-by in an attack in London’s Leytonstone tube station on Saturday evening, which police have described as a terror attack, appeared in court on Monday morning charged with attempted murder.
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The suspect allegedly shouted “This is for Syria” and left a 56-year-old man with “serious” stab wounds.
Muhaydin Mire, who lives in Leytonstone in east London, is accused of attempting to kill a 56-year-old man at Leytonstone station on Saturday.
Graphic footage of the attacks later emerged online showing the knifeman appearing to slash a man in the throat, and blood pooled on the station floor. Police managed to subdue him with a stun gun and wrestle him to the ground before arresting him.
The police said that initial reports indicated that the man had also threatened other bystanders.
Despite one victim crying “help me, help me” while being beaten unconscious by the attacker, only two people – including Pethers – intervened to detain him until police arrived. In one video a man can be heard shouting “you ain’t no Muslim bru” and the phrase was trending on Twitter on Sunday as Londoners sent a defiant message to terrorists.
A man was arrested at 7.14pm and taken to an east London police station where he remains in custody. I would urge the public to remain calm, but alert and vigilant.
The Crown Prosecution Service argued that the attack constituted an act of terrorism under the UK’s Terrorism Act.
A spokeswoman for 10 Downing St said: “There is an ongoing police investigation into the attack in London”.
British police will treat the east London Tube station knife attack as a “terrorist incident”.
Last week, British war planes joined air strikes for the first time against Islamic State fighters in Syria.
British police are ramping up patrols at transport hubs across London to “identify and deter terrorism” following the knife attack, the Associated Press reported.
The suspect is believed to have shouted “This is for Syria” as he attacked one victim.
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“We work very closely with all our intelligence partners and if we do have any indication there is likely to be something significant we intervene”, he told BBC radio.
