UPDATE-A 13-year-old boy killed and several others injured in London, in an attack with a samurai sword targeting passers-by and two police officers in the Redbridge district. A 36-year-old man, arrested in Hainault

A 36-year-old man was arrested in Hainault, in east London, after attacking passers-by with a sword and injuring several people, the Police in the London district of Redbridge announced on Tuesday, reports AFP. One of the injured, a 13-year-old child, died, the police chief announced.

“It is with great sadness that I can confirm that one of the injured in the attack, a 13-year-old boy, has died,” announced police chief Stuart Bell.

The London Ambulance Service announced on X that it had “picked up five injured people” and taken them to hospital.

The Hainault metro station “has been closed due to a police investigation in the neighborhood”, the transport company in London announced on X.

The police announced in a statement that they were called “shortly before (local) 7.00 (9.00 Romanian time)” to this London neighborhood by witnesses who said that “people had been stabbed”.

A witness quoted by The Telegraph newspaper says that he saw a man “running away with a samurai sword”, who “stabbed four people, after hitting a house with his truck”.

“A man with a sword was arrested,” the police announced in a statement.

According to testimonies gathered at the scene, the suspect attacked passers-by “and two police officers”, she specified.

“We are waiting for information about the condition of the injured,” announced the police.

“We do not believe that the threat persists” in the neighborhood and “we are not looking for another suspect”, announced a representative of the police in the neighborhood, Ade Adelekan, quoted in the statement.

“This incident does not seem related to terrorism,” he said.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan declared, on X, “absolutely devastated” by this attack.

“The area has been secured (…), and additional security patrols will be carried out in the area,” he announced.

Knife or sword attacks are on the rise in the UK and are widely publicised.

According to official figures, they will increase by 7% in 2023, to almost 50,000 in England and Wales.

In London, they “exploded” by 20%, to 14,577 recorded attacks, returning to the level before the covid-19 pandemic.

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