Knife attack in London, a woman killed – Le Point

A knife attack has hit London. A woman was killed and five people were injured Wednesday night in the center of the capital, said the British police, which does not exclude the terrorist track.

The author of the attack, a young man of 19 who suffer from mental problems, according to police, was arrested shortly after the incident that occurred in the late evening Wednesday in Russell Square near the British Museum. “A man of 19 was arrested shortly after 22 h 39 [21 h 39 GMT] and is currently in custody at the hospital. Early indications suggest that mental health plays a significant role in this matter, “said Thursday morning Mark Rowley, Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.

increased police presence

according to him, no track is however excluded, the terrorist track evoked by police in his first statement, and announced an “increased police presence” in the streets of London. Questioned on the phone about the elements leading to envisage a terrorist attack, a Scotland Yard spokesman has however declined to comment. The woman who died in the attack were aged sixty years. Five other people – four men and one woman – were injured, but the severity of their injuries was not specified. The author of the attack, committed shortly before 22 h 30, was arrested with a taser, electric pulse to a gun.

A security cordon was drawn around places , found on site a journalist for Agence France-Presse. A tent has been installed by the scientific police. “I was trying to buy a beer when I heard a woman screaming running after a man. I thought it was a flight bag, there were passersby. She went up the street at least 50 meters, she was not hurt, “he told Xavery Richert, a French tourist 22 years. “I went outside to smoke a cigarette, I went back, there were firefighters, police, and then I saw the body under a sheet, one could only see the feet sticking out,” he added. Constantine Somerville, a waterfront left home after help arrived, explained that “this is a safe area and usually very quiet, especially at night. Why would anyone commit an attack in such an area? “

severe threat level

On Sunday, the police chief in London, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, warned against a possible terrorist attack in the United -United. “As the person responsible for preventing such an attack, I know you would like me reassure you. But I fear I can not do it completely, “had he said, responding to concerns raised after the terrorist attacks in France and Germany. “Our threat level is serious for two years. It will remain so. This means that an attack is highly likely. We can say that this is when, not if “it will happen, ‘he said again. The terrorist threat level was raised to 4 on a scale of 5 August 2014 in the UK, meaning that an attack is considered “highly likely”.

In December 2015, following of Paris bombings the previous month, the London metropolitan police announced it would bring more of its police handguns and semi-automatic weapons and Taser electroshock weapons. On Monday, a man found guilty of attempted murder by decapitation on the London Underground in December 2015, a qualified attack as “terrorist” by the authorities, was sentenced to life in prison. This attempted decapitation was inspired by the deadly attack in 2013 against a soldier Lee Rigby, last deadly terrorist attack in the UK. Lee Rigby, 25, was killed with a knife by two men near a military barracks in south-east London. On 7 July 2005, four suicide bombings coordinated rush hour in three underground trains and a London buses had left 56 people dead and 700 injured. The attacks were claimed by a group claiming al Qaeda.