LONDON: A 32-year-old man is being questioned after four people, including a police officer, were injured in a knife attack during evening prayers at a Birmingham mosque.
Chief Superintendent Alex Murray praised the “heroic” actions of officers and other worshippers who intervened during the incident at the Madrassa Qasim Ul Uloom mosque, in the Washwood Heath area of the city, on Saturday.
The incident comes amid an increase in police patrols around mosques after a number of attacks in the aftermath of the killing of British soldier Lee Rigby in Woolwich, south London. Murray said the motivation for the attack was unclear but there was no evidence it was a hate crime or linked to any other incidents.
Police were called to the mosque by a worshipper just after 11pm and arrived within four minutes to find three injured people. They were directed to a side-room of the building where they found the suspect armed with a combat knife.
“They challenged the individual and the individual ran at one of the officers with the knife,” said Murray “The officer deployed a Taser, the Taser had no effect on the individual and the individual stabbed the officer in the chest and in the stomach around the stab-proof vest that he was wearing.”
Despite being seriously injured, the 31-year-old officer detained the attacker with the help of a female colleague. The wounded officer, from the Yardley Wood area of Birmingham, who has served with West Midlands police since 2007, was undergoing surgery in hospital yesterday. “The work of those officers was heroic and the work of the some of the people in the mosque assisting those officers was also heroic,” said Murray.
Two worshippers, a 28-year-old man who had suffered multiple stab wounds and a 36-year-old man who suffered a single stab wound to the thigh, were also being treated in hospital on Sunday for injuries, described as serious but not life-threatening. Another worshipper suffered a hand injury but did not require hospital treatment. All of the injured were given first aid at the scene by police officers as well as other worshippers at the mosque, including an off-duty surgeon.
The man arrested by on suspicion of attempted murder was a local, believed to be of Somali origin, police said. He was attending the mosque for the first time.
Dr Arshad Mahmood, who was at the mosque, told the BBC: “A man started stabbing one of the guys who was just sitting right next to him. I don’t know what exactly was the reason but he just started stabbing him. We went to save him. He had multiple injuries, three or four wounds. Then the policeman came and was also attacked and stabbed.”
Mohammed Shafiq, the leader of national Muslim organisation the Ramadhan Foundation, said a nearby resident overheard an argument coming from inside the mosque and believes the attack followed a dispute between members.
“I have spoken to someone who lives a few doors down from the mosque and they described hearing an argument between some of the people inside the mosque,” he said. “It escalated into violence and a police officer has been stabbed. People, anti-Muslim extremists, are going to try to take advantage of this – it’s very serious that a police officer has been stabbed during duty.”
Murray said: “This was a one-off incident, we’re not looking for anyone else in relation to this incident. We don’t understand the motivation at the moment but it doesn’t appear at this very early stage to be linked to anything else that’s going on around the country.”
The Guardian
