Two men have been stabbed in a predominantly Jewish area of London in what police have declared a terrorist incident.<\/p>\n
The Met Police said the two victims, aged 76 and 34, were treated at the scene for stab wounds. They were taken to hospital and both are in a stable condition.<\/p>\n
The attacker also attempted to stab police officers, and was Tasered before being arrested. <\/p>\n
Responsibility for the attack was claimed group calling itself Harakat Ashab Al Yamin Al Islamia<\/a>, or Ashab Al Yamin, which translates as the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right Hand.<\/p>\n The group has also claimed responsibility for the attacks on previous Jewish targets in London and that on Iran International TV. It is suspected to be a front for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC<\/a>).<\/p>\n Following a familiar pattern, Ashab Al Yamin posted footage from the scene on a Telegram channel aligned to Iraqi Shia militias.<\/p>\n Jewish security group Shomrim said a man was seen running along Golders Green Road armed with a knife and \u201cattempting to stab Jewish members of the public\u201d. <\/p>\n The suspect was initially tackled by Shomorim volunteers before the police arrived on the scene soon after.<\/p>\n A 45-year-old man is being held on suspicion of attempted murder. Officers are working to establish his nationality and background.<\/p>\n The Head of Counter Terrorism Policing Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor said: \u201cThis has now formally been declared a terrorist incident.”<\/p>\n The head of the Met Police, Sir Mark Rowley, said the man arrested has a history of serious violence and mental health problems and officers believed he had a bomb when they confronted the suspect.<\/p>\n He said anti-Semitism was being fuelled by \u201chostile states, the extreme right and the extreme left\u201d who are given space to operate because of \u201cweak\u201d civil debate.<\/p>\n He said: “Where is the solidarity with fellow Londoners who are being targeted simply for who they are? Legitimate debate about international affairs should never be allowed to legitimise anti-Semitism or violence against British Jews here on the streets of London.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen that line is blurred, attacks become more likely. We\u2019ve seen a rise in racist and anti-Semitic hate crime. And whilst I can\u2019t comment on live investigations, we know that some individuals are being encouraged, persuaded or paid to commit acts of violence on behalf of foreign organisations and hostile states.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben Grossnass, a volunteer in Shomrim\u2019s emergency response unit, said: \u201cWe got a phone call to the hotline at 11.20am this morning, we were on the scene within a minute-and-a-half of the phone call.<\/p>\n \u201cI saw a lot of shock in the street and the attacker was having CPR, I think he went into cardiac arrest after being tasered.<\/p>\n Footage shared on line shows a man being confronted by police and member of the public before being overwhelmed. CCTV shows an attacker walking up to a man at a bus stop and stabbing him.<\/p>\n The scene is about a kilometre from a memorial wall where an attempted arson attack <\/a>took place on Monday, and near where four Hatzola ambulances were destroyed by fire <\/a>last month.<\/p>\n These incidents came after a series of arson attacks on Jewish sites and institutions in north London<\/a> and the Iran International <\/a>TV station, which is opposed to the regime in Tehran.<\/p>\n