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British police said they have arrested two people after a mass stabbing of 10 passengers on a train in eastern England on Saturday left nine with “life-threatening” injuries.
British Transport Police said Counter Terror Police were “supporting” the investigation, but did not immediately label the attack as terrorism.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer wrote on X that the incident was “appalling” and “deeply concerning”.
BTP said that there had been no fatalities in the attack, which occurred on the 6.25pm train from Doncaster to London King’s Cross. Video posted online showed armed police rushing towards the train after it stopped at Huntingdon, about 60 miles north of London.
The force said it had been called at 7.42pm to reports of a “multiple stabbing” on board the train.
“Armed police from Cambridgeshire Police boarded the train and arrested two people in connection to the incident who have been taken to police custody,” the BTP added.
“Ten people have been taken to hospital with nine believed to have suffered life-threatening injuries. One is being treated for non life-threatening injuries.”
It added: “This has been declared a major incident and Counter Terrorism Policing are supporting our investigation whilst we work to establish the full circumstances and motivation for this incident.”
Ben Obese-Jecty, MP for Huntingdon, said the attack “occurred after the train left Peterborough”. He said the train “made the unscheduled stop at Huntingdon following the attack”.
“Police responded in minutes from the 999 call under Operation Plato,” he wrote on X, referring to the police response to “marauding terrorist attacks”.
“The first officers on the scene were Cambridgeshire Constabulary Response Officers, then backed up by firearms officers shortly afterwards,” he said.
BTP chief superintendent Chris Casey said the force was conducting “urgent enquiries” to establish what had happened.
“It could take some time before we are in a position to confirm anything further,” he said. “At this early stage it would not be appropriate to speculate on the causes of the incident.”
Home secretary Shabana Mahmood urged people to “avoid comment and speculation at this early stage”.
Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp demanded immediate answers, describing the incident as a “brutal mass stabbing”.
“The police and government should provide an update on what happened and who has been arrested as soon as possible,” he wrote on X.
London North Eastern Rail issued a “do not travel” notice shortly before 6am on Sunday, warning that some services would be delayed or cancelled. The disruption is expected to last until the end of Sunday
“We are deeply shocked and saddened by this serious incident,” LNER managing director David Horne said in a statement. “The safety and wellbeing of everyone affected will remain our priority.”
Saturday’s attack was the second mass stabbing in the UK within a week. A 49-year-old man was killed and a 45-year-old man and a 14-year-old boy were injured on Monday in a knife attack in Uxbridge, north-west London. The man arrested for the attack, Safi Dawood, is a refugee from Afghanistan who arrived in the UK in 2020.
It also came just under a month after Jihad al-Shamie, a Syrian-born British citizen, launched a car and knife attack on a synagogue in Manchester during Yom Kippur services. The attack ended in the deaths of two worshippers and the shooting dead of al-Shamie by police.
Additional reporting by David Sheppard in London
