Manchester police treating New Year's Eve stabbing spree as terrorist attack - New York Post

Authorities in the English city of Manchester on Tuesday said they are treating a New Year’s Eve stabbing of three people – including a police sergeant – as a terrorist incident.

A 25-year-old man was arrested after the attack at Victoria station, where a woman was stabbed in the face and abdomen and a man also suffered abdominal injuries.

The British Transport Police sergeant who was stabbed in the shoulder was later released from a hospital.

A witness has said the assailant shouted “Allah” during the incident but officials have not confirmed that.

Police raided a house in Cheetham Hill, North Manchester, as part of the investigation, according to the Telegraph.

The suspect has not yet been charged or identified.

Chief Constable Ian Hopkins of the Greater Manchester Police said: “I know that the events of last night will have affected many people and caused concern.

“That the incident happened so close to the scene of the terrorist attack on 22 May 2017 makes it even more dreadful.”

That day, British suicide bomber Salam Abedi killed 22 people, including seven children, at an Ariana Grande concert in the city. That attack was the deadliest of five militant strikes in Britain in 2017 that killed a total of 36 people.

British Prime Minister Theresa May on Tuesday said she was thinking of the latest victims.

“My thoughts are with those who were injured in the suspected terrorist attack in Manchester last night,” she tweeted.

The prime minister also thanked the emergency services “for their courageous response” to the attack, which started about 9 p.m. Monday.

Hopkins also praised the officers who “swiftly detained” the attacker.

“The officers acted with incredible bravery in tackling the armed attacker at the busy Metrolink station and ensured he was immediately detained. He remains in custody here in Manchester,” he said.

“We are treating this as a terrorist investigation which is being led by counter terrorism officers with support from Greater Manchester Police. They were working throughout the night to piece together the details of what happened and to identify the man who was arrested.”

Sam Clack, 38, who witnessed the attack, said he heard “this most blood-curdling scream” on the train platform.

“I looked down and saw he had a kitchen knife with a black handle with a good, 12-inch blade. It was just fear, pure fear,” the BBC producer told the Telegraph.

Clack said cops used a Taser and pepper spray before “six or seven” officers jumped the assailant.

He said he heard the man say: “As long as you keep bombing other countries this sort of s— is going to keep happening.”

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