U.K. police investigate ‘terror-related’ stabbing

LONDON— Police in Manchester are quizzing a suspect and searching a house for clues about the “terror-related” stabbings of three people at a train station on New Year’s Eve.

The attack Monday night by a knife-wielding man yelling Islamic slogans brought terrorism back to Manchester after a 19-month hiatus. It took place at a key transport hub right next to the Manchester Arena, where 22 people were killed in an attack at an Ariana Grande concert in May 2017.

Monday’s stabbing attack left a man and a woman hospitalized with “very serious” but not life-threatening injuries and a man in custody, police said. Both the victims have abdominal injuries and the woman also has injuries to her face.

A-British Transport Police sergeant who was stabbed in the shoulder was released after an overnight hospital stay.

Police say they are treating the attack as a terrorist incident, and the investigation is being headed by counterterrorism police with help from the security services. Tight-lipped U.K. authorities have not commented on a possible motive for the attack, and the suspect, in his mid-20s, has not been charged or identified.

Assistant Chief Const. Russ Jackson said police believe they have identified the suspect and were searching his home in the Cheetham Hill neighbourhood of Manchester. He said the attack was frenzied and random.

“We know the attacker arrived at the location and soon after he attacked two people, a man and a woman, who have suffered very serious injuries,” he said.

The train station reopened Tuesday and extra police officers were on the city’s streets.