Police search mosque after fatal stabbing
ARMED police sealed off one of the country’s biggest mosques last night after a man was stabbed to death in a nearby street. The victim was found with knife wounds near the London Central Mosque in Regent’s Park at around 6.15pm and later died in hospital.
He was named locally as Zahir, and is thought to be in his twenties and living in a nearby estate. Witnesses claimed two people were seen running into the mosque and officers later moved in to cordon off the building, believing the suspects had attempted to hide there.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman confirmed their swoop on the mosque was linked to the stabbing and that the incident was not terror-related. A statement added: ‘Inquiries continue to trace the suspects, who fled the scene. There have been no arrests.’
A large pile of bloody rags could be seen next to medical bags at the scene of the stabbing, around half a mile away from the mosque, and police helicopters circled overhead into the night.
Bahir Moulana, 39, said he was walking towards the mosque when police started pushing people back before they closed the main gate.
‘My heart was in my mouth’
The witness said the number of armed officers at the scene gave him the ‘jitters’ following the recent attacks on two mosques in New Zealand. ‘I saw all the blue lights and my heart was in my mouth,’ Mr Moulana added. ‘There was one girl who said she saw two guys run in. Someone else told me the police were chasing them.’
Mr Moulana said he saw two people being detained and put in handcuffs by the police at the mosque.
Social media users had described the mosque as being ‘on lockdown’, although a number of worshippers trapped inside the building were later allowed out.
John Stealer, a taxi driver who drove by the scene, told the Evening Standard: ‘I could see a massive police presence outside the mosque and could hear the helicopter above. When I heard that I thought it was being taken seriously.’
Another witness told the Standard gates around the mosque were locked and there was a ‘mass of people’ outside.
A resident who saw the stabbing, who did not want to be named, said: ‘I looked out of the window at around 6.30pm and I saw him on the floor... he was already getting CPR.’
Shortly before the killing she said she could hear somebody saying: ‘What happened? What have you done?’ ahead of going out to see what was going on.