HUNGTINGDON, Britain - British counter-terrorism police are helping to investigate the Nov 1 stabbing of 10 passengers on a train in eastern England, in what the defence minister said appeared to be “an isolated attack”.

The police, who arrested two suspects when the train made an emergency stop at Huntingdon around 130km north of London, said they will hold a press conference on the morning of Nov 2 as they seek to understand the circumstances and motivation.

Defence Minister John Healey told Sky News on Nov 2 that there did not appear to be a wider threat to the public after the incident on the London-bound train.

“The early assessment is that this was an isolated incident, an isolated attack,” said Mr Healey.

Ten people were taken to hospital, of whom nine are described as having suffered what are believed to be life-threatening injuries, the police said.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer called it an “appalling incident” which was “deeply concerning”, while Interior Minister Shabana Mahmood said she was “deeply saddened” and urged people to avoid comment and speculation.

The government is keen to stop rumours spreading on social media following an incident in Southport in north-west England in 2024, when internet claims over the murder of three young girls sparked days of rioting across the country.

Mr Healey told the BBC that he was confident police would soon provide more information.

“They will let us know as much as they can, as soon as they can,” he said.

AFP journalists saw police and forensics teams, some wearing white overalls, working through the night at the station where the train had stopped.

Witness Olly Foster told the BBC that he heard people shouting “run, run, there’s a guy literally stabbing everyone”, and initially thought it was a Halloween-related prank.

But passengers then started pushing through the carriage, Mr Foster said, adding that his hand was left “covered in blood” that had spilled onto the chair he had been leaning on.

Mr Foster said he saw an older man block the assailant from stabbing a younger girl, adding that the attack “felt like forever” though it lasted only minutes.

Witnesses told Sky News they saw a man holding a large knife on the platform after the train halted.

They then saw the man tasered and restrained by police.

Knife crime ‘crisis’

Knife crime in England and Wales has increased since 2011, according to official government data.

While Britain has some of the strictest gun controls in the world, rampant knife crime has been branded a “national crisis” by Mr Starmer.

His Labour government has tried to rein in their use.

Nearly 60,000 blades have been either “seized or surrendered” in England and Wales as part of government efforts to halve knife crime within a decade, the interior ministry said on Oct 29.

Britain’s current threat level from terrorism is rated as “substantial” by security services, meaning an attack is “likely”.

After a number of serious attacks in 2017, Britain has had some quieter years in the 2020s, although in October, three people were killed when

. REUTERS, AFP