Man stabbed at London station by attacker ‘shouting he wanted to kill Muslims’

A man was stabbed at Forest Hill station, south-east London, on December 12, 2016. Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

LONDON // A man was stabbed at a suburban train station in London on Monday by an attacker who shouted that he wanted to kill Muslims, witnesses said.

Police said they had arrested a 38-year-old man following the attack on a train which left the victim, who is in his forties, in a serious condition in hospital.

An eyewitness, 36-year-old Miguel Oliveira, told Britain’s Press Association news agency that he came face-to-face with the attacker, who was “shouting uncontrollably”.

“He was walking towards me and he was shouting stuff like ‘death to Muslims’ and ‘go back to Syria’,” he said.

Local resident Shellby Curry, 24, told the agency that she saw a man waving what looked like a knife and screaming “Muslims, f***ing hate them, kill them all”.

British transport police said it had received reports that a man had been assaulted on a train at Forest Hill station in south-east London at 1.18pm.

“The man, who is in his forties, was taken to hospital with injuries consistent with having been stabbed. He remains in hospital in a serious, but not life threatening, condition,” it said.

“A 38-year-old man from London was arrested at the scene on suspicion of assault occasioning grievous bodily harm. He remains in police custody.”

“The circumstances are being investigated but the incident is not being treated as terrorism-related at this time,” the police added.

* Agence France-Presse