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At least 17 injured in Tokyo subway knife and arson attack

A 24-year-old man dressed in Batman’s Joker costume has been arrested for attempted murder after a knife and fire attack on a train in Tokyo, according to Japanese media, with at least 17 people reportedly injured and one in a serious condition after being stabbed.

Witnesses told national broadcaster NHK of the bloody attack which happened on Sunday, when the Japanese capital was full of Halloween revellers, many in costume.

Media reports said the perpetrator, aged in his 20s and wearing a green shirt and indigo suit, attacked people with a knife and started a fire on the train.

At least 17 injured in Tokyo subway knife and arson attack

A video clip published by NHK showed panicked passengers running down the train as smoke filled the carriage, with flames also visible. Another video posted on Twitter showed people climbing through windows to escape the Keio line train at a station.

The line operator said services had been partially suspended after “an incident involving injuries” took place just before 8pm near Kokuryō in the city’s western suburbs.

“At first I thought it was something like a Halloween event. But I rushed away as a man carrying a long knife came in. I was very fortunate not to be injured,” a man who was on the train told NHK.

The perpetrator showed no emotion during the attack, a female passenger said.

At least 17 injured in Tokyo subway knife and arson attack

“He held a knife and started spreading liquid,” she said. “He was committing this act without showing any emotion, just mechanically. I think that brought fear to everyone.”

Kyodo News said 15 people had been injured in the attack, with NHK reporting 17 were hurt with a man in his 60s stabbed and in serious condition.

Dozens of firefighters and police officers were seen working outside the station.

Violent crime is rare in Japan, but in August nine people were wounded, one of them seriously, in a stabbing on a commuter train in Tokyo, with the suspect fleeing the scene and later handing himself in.

 At least 17 injured in Tokyo subway knife and arson attack
Firefighters gather at Kokuryo Station in Chofu, western Tokyo, on Oct. 31, 2021, after a fire broke out on a Keio Line train. (Kyodo)

In a separate attack in August, two people suffered burns in an acid attack at a Tokyo subway station.

Japan has strict gun laws, but there are occasional violent crimes involving other weapons. In 2019, a man killed two people, including a schoolgirl, and wounded more than a dozen in a rampage that targeted children as they waited for a bus.

And in 2018, a man was arrested in central Japan after stabbing one person to death and injuring two others on a bullet train.

 

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