A mass stabbing on a train which left nine people with life-threatening injuries was an “isolated attack”, and further information on whether it was terror-related will be provided as soon as the Government has it, the Defence Secretary has said.
A man with a large knife is believed to have been shot with a Taser by police after going on a bloody rampage on a high-speed train after it left Peterborough station in Cambridgeshire on Saturday evening.
British Transport Police (BTP) declared a major incident and said two people were arrested after the train was stopped at Huntingdon station.
Police also declared “Plato”, the national code word used by police and emergency services when responding to a “marauding terror attack”, before the declaration was later rescinded.
There have been no fatalities so far from the stabbings on the 6.25pm train service from Doncaster to London King’s Cross, with the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer describing the incident as “deeply concerning”.
A 10th person suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
Speaking on Sky News on Sunday morning, John Healey said “there’s no reason for the rest of us not to get on with our lives” as he described the incident as “isolated”.
Addressing whether or not the incident was terror-related, he told the broadcaster: “The early assessment is that this was an isolated incident, an isolated attack.
“So there’s no reason for the rest of us not to get on with our lives, get on and travel to the places we need to get to.
“But those sorts of conclusions, those further assessments and that information will be provided to the public as soon as we’ve got them.”
Counter-terrorism police are assisting with the investigation.
Mr Healey added that the British public should be “more vigilant”, but said people are “not going to be deflected from carrying out our everyday lives”.
Huntingdon railway station remained taped off by police on Sunday morning – with the train still visible on the platform.
A number of officers were positioned around the station and the road directly outside the station’s car park, the A1307, was shut with a number of police vehicles are on the road.
The Times newspaper said witnesses had spoken of seeing a man with a large knife and passengers hiding in the toilets to escape the rampage.
One man, who gave his name as Gavin, told Sky News he believed he saw the suspect tasered before he was arrested.
Olly Foster, who also witnessed the incident, told the BBC an older man “blocked” the attacker from stabbing a younger girl, leaving him with injuries to his head and neck.
Mr Foster told the broadcaster other passengers used their clothing to try and stem the bleeding.
Video footage on social media showed scores of blue-light police cars and emergency vehicles in a station car park before the suspect was arrested, and a team of armed police running towards the stationary train at Huntingdon station.
The attack is understood to have started shortly after the London North Eastern Railway (LNER) train left Peterborough station.
LNER, which operates East Coast Mainline services in the UK, said disruption to its services between London Kings Cross and Lincoln, Doncaster, Leeds, Bradford Forster Square and Harrogate was expected to last until Monday, with passengers advised to defer their travel where possible.
