HUNGTINGDON, Britain - British police said on Nov 2 that a knife attack on a train, which put 11 people in hospital, was not a terrorist incident, adding that two men – both British nationals – had been arrested.

Counter-terrorism police had helped with the initial investigation after the mass stabbing of passengers on a London-bound train in eastern England on Nov 1.

“At this stage, there is nothing to suggest that this is a terrorist incident,” Superintendent John Loveless from British Transport Police told the media on Nov 2.

The two men arrested on suspicion of attempted murder were a 32-year-old black British national and a 35-year-old British national of Caribbean descent, Supt Loveless said. Both were born in the UK, he added.

“It would not be appropriate to speculate on the cause of this incident,” he said.

The arrests were made by armed police after the train made an emergency stop at Huntingdon, around 130km north of London.

Of the 11 people hospitalised, four have since been discharged and two patients remain in a life-threatening condition, police said.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer called it an “appalling incident” which was “deeply concerning”, while King Charles said he was “truly appalled and shocked”.

Interior Minister Shabana Mahmood said she was “deeply saddened” and urged people to avoid comment and speculation.

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.

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.

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 knife 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