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A 19-year-old man was in police custody after a woman was killed and up to six injured in a knife attack in central London, with police saying mental health was a significant factor.
Graphics: The Straits Times
But the police were still maintaining the terror line of the inquiry on the attack in Russell Square. The homicide command, supported by counter-terrorism police, were investigating the incident.
Officers were called at 10.33pm local time on Wednesday night (5.33am Thursday, Singapore time) to "reports of a man seen in possession of a knife injuring people at Russell Square", the Telegraph quoted police as saying in a statement.
A man was arrested at 10.39pm and a Taser was discharged by one of the arresting officers, the police said.
Police officers guard the scene where one women died and several were injured in a suspected knife attack in Russell Square, Central London, Britain, August 4.Photo: EPA
"A woman was treated at the scene but was pronounced dead a short time later,'' they said, adding that no further details about the victim were available.
Up to six people were found injured at the location, the police added.
The police did not give the exact location of the incident. But some witnesses told BBC that a police forensics tent had been set up on Southampton Row, outside the park in the centre of the square close to the British Museum.
Other witnesses told the Telegraph they saw ambulances and police outside the Imperial Hotel on Russell Square. The hotel is 300m away from Russell Square station.
The scene at Russell Square in central London after a woman was killed and up to six injured in a knife incident. Photo: Twitter
The police said terrorism was one possibility "being explored at this stage", adding that additional police units had been deployed to the area to provide reassurance.
A caller to BBC Radio London said he had been to the Bloomsbury cinema with his girlfriend when he came across the scene.
“We came around the corner and there were armed police everywhere … a massive police presence … and a corpse lying in the street covered in a blanket,'' he told BBC Radio.
“Apparently it was a gang stabbed a woman and she’s dead...we didn’t actually see anything but some people in the bar saw something,” he said.
A woman walks past a closed entrance of Russell Square underground station in London in April 2014. Photo: Reuters
Earlier on Wednesday, London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe had announced that more armed police will patrol the streets of Britain’s capital, in the wake of recent terror attacks in Europe.
The public will see more armed officers on proactive operations and targeted patrols, both on foot and in vehicles, across London.
(THE STRAITS TIMES)
