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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Chris Kitching

Lyon knife attack: 'Afghan asylum seeker' kills one in metro station rampage

An Afghan asylum seeker is accused of killing a 19-year-old man and wounding at least nine people in a knife rampage in France.

Witnesses said a man armed with a knife and barbecue fork randomly attacked people at a bus stop in Villeurbanne, a suburb of Lyon.

A second man at the scene was carrying a kitchen spit, but his role in the incident was unclear after it was initially reported he may have been a suspect who fled.

Footage posted online shows hero witnesses confronting and detaining the knifeman at Laurent-Bonnevay station.

One video shows the man tossing the knife and fork to the floor and surrendering as he is surrounded by a mob.

Did you witness the incident? Email webnews@mirror.co.uk.

Hero witnesses detained the suspected knifeman (pictured crouching) (Twitter)

Bus drivers and witnesses chased the knife-wielding suspect as he ran into the metro station and then cornered him at an outdoor lift after the attack unfolded just before 4.30pm local time on Saturday, local media reported.

The suspect is an Afghan asylum seeker who was not known to the police or intelligence services, BFM TV reported.

The knifeman claimed to be from Afghanistan as he was confronted by witnesses, including four bus drivers, after the attack, Le Progres reported.

There was no indication from the authorities that it was a terror attack.

A man at the scene was armed with a kitchen spit (left) (Twitter)

Witnesses described a terrifying scene as the knifeman began stabbing victims at random and people ran for their lives.

A witness named Nina told LCI: "I was in the subway at the end of a mundane day and then [the police] evacuated the metro.

"We saw large bloodstains on the ground.

"I saw a gentleman with his three young children, with blood on his face and his white t-shirt. Several people were traumatised, crying."

Another witness told how one person had been stabbed in the stomach and an older woman had an injury to the side of her head.

The role of the man with the kitchen spit was unclear (Twitter)

The woman told LCI she stepped in front of the older woman to protect her, adding: "There was blood everywhere on the ground."

A bus driver opened the door to his vehicle to offer refuge to those who were running from the scene.

The 19-year-old man who died was originally from Isere and was travelling by bus to the Woodstower music festival at Grand Parc Miribel Jonage near Lyon, Le Progres reported.

More than 30 emergency services personnel - including the elite RAID tactical unit of the French National Police - raced to the scene, east of Lyon, to help the victims, detain the knifeman and search for a possible second suspect.

The wounded were found inside the station and on its forecourt.

The incident happened at a metro station in suburban Lyon (Twitter)

A police helicopter was in the air looking for a second man reported as a possible suspect.

A possible motive for the attack was not known.

Lyon Mayor Gerard Collomb, the former French interior minister, told reporters: "For now, we do not know anything about the motive.

"What is certain is that it was not a fight since it was someone who attacked passengers waiting for a bus."

The attack happened as football fans were travelling on the metro system to watch Lyon host Bordeaux in a Ligue 1 match.

The local prosecutor's office is handling the case, which is being treated as murder and attempted murder.

Terror-related incidents are probed by the national anti-terror prosecution office, which said it was monitoring the incident.

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