An unknown number of passengers were stabbed late this Saturday on a train in Huntingdon, a town about fifty kilometers north of London, in the county of Cambridgeshire, according to local police.
The situation remains confusing. There are at least two detainees, but both their identity and the causes behind their attack are unknown at the moment. The East of England Ambulance Service has mobilized a large response, commensurate with the scale of the attack. “We have sent several ambulances, tactical commands and our risk area response team, as well as the East Anglia and Essex air transport teams, to Huntingdon station. We can confirm that we have transferred several patients to hospital,” they said in a statement.
The total number of injured as well as their severity is unknown.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood confirmed the arrest of two people and asked the public to “avoid comments and speculation at this preliminary stage”:
Huntingdon station was closed to the public and rail traffic was interrupted, according to the national railway company. Likewise, the A1307 road leading to Huntington was closed.
The police received a notification at 7:39 p.m. local time (8:39 p.m. Spanish peninsular time) of an attack on board the train and arrived in time to arrest two of the alleged perpetrators. The train had left Peterborough. When the attacks began, the police received several calls on the 999 emergency number. At least 30 officers went to Huntingdon station, where the two suspects were arrested.
A passenger who has identified himself SkyNews as Gavin has described how he saw a person running through his carriage, with blood on his clothes, and warning that someone was stabbing the travellers.
The mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, Paul Bristow, wrote on his X account that he had received reports of “horrendous scenes” on the Huntingdon train, but offered no other details.
Some witnesses have described to the newspaper The Times how a man with a long knife walked around the carriages while many passengers hid in the public toilets. According to other witnesses, the police neutralized the suspect with a taser gun upon arriving at the station.
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Keir Starmer, has described the incident as “deeply worrying” and has asked citizens to follow police instructions.
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