Manchester police raid stabbing suspect’s home

British police have said a man suspected of stabbing three people with a kitchen knife at Manchester Victoria train station on New Year’s Eve has been detained under the Mental Health Act.

Counterterrorism officials are continuing to investigate what led to the stabbing attack that injured a British Transport Police officer, and a woman and a man in their 50s.

Police said the suspect, a 25-year-old man who had been living in the UK for about a decade, remained in custody and was refusing to cooperate. He had been assessed by specialist medical staff, Greater Manchester police added.

On Tuesday morning, armed officers raided a property in the Cheetham Hill area of the city, where the suspect, who is being held on suspicion of attempted murder, lived with his parents and four siblings.

A police spokesman said: “The counterterrorism investigation remains ongoing. There is nothing to suggest the involvement of other people in this attack, but confirming this remains a main priority for the investigation. The search of the address in Cheetham Hill continues.”

On Tuesday afternoon, tactical aid unit vans were stationed outside the property, with a police officer guarding the door.

The Manchester Evening News reported that a neighbor of the occupants of the searched property said they have lived there for at least 10 years, and described them as ‘good people’.

Counterterrorism police are leading the investigation into the attack at Victoria station, which is adjacent to Manchester Arena, where suicide bomber Salman Abedi killed 22 people on May 22, 2017.

Earlier, Chief Constable Ian Hopkins praised officers at the scene for their bravery in arresting the suspect within minutes.

Hopkins said many people would have been affected by Monday’s attack, particularly since it happened so close to the scene of the 2017 bombing.

“I believe that makes it an even more dreadful attack for our city,” he told reporters.

Mayor Andy Burnham said the incident had all the hallmarks of an isolated incident, but urged people to ‘remain vigilant’.

Britain is on its second-highest threat level of severe, meaning an attack is considered highly likely. Security officials said they are facing record levels of work in countering Islamist militants as well as far-right extremists after four major attacks in 2017.

Sam Clack, a BBC producer who witnessed the attack, told the broadcaster: “I just heard the guy shout, as part of a sentence, ‘Allah’.”

“I heard the man say, ‘As long as you keep bombing these countries this is going to keep happening’,” Clack told BBC 5 Live radio in another interview. “It was very, very scary.”