An attacker went wild on Saturday in a park full of people relaxing in the southern city of Reading, killing “a number of people”, police said.
Sources have told Sky News and the British Press Association that early indications suggest that the incident was linked to terrorism.
The BBC and other media said three people could have died in the attack. The police neither confirmed nor denied the information.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson condemned the “appalling incident” and other prominent politicians expressed sympathy for those injured at Forbury Gardens in the historic center of the city of 220,000 people.
“A number of people were injured and taken to hospital,” said Thames Valley police in a statement.
Police reported that they arrested “a man at the scene” and urged everyone to stay away.
The Press Association said the man arrested was Libyan.
“My thoughts are with everyone affected by the terrible Reading incident and my thanks to the emergency services at the scene,” tweeted Johnson.
A Black Lives Matter demonstration took place earlier in the park, but police said there was no indication that the two incidents were linked.
“With regard to the Black Lives Matter demonstration and those in attendance, we are all safe,” said Nieema Hassan, organizer of the Reading BLM event, on Facebook.
“None of us are affected. We were all gone by the time this happened.”
“Stabbed in the neck”
Witnesses reported seeing two air ambulances and several police cars rushing into the park on Saturday evening.
A witness described a single attacker walking in a park full of people relaxing on the grass and stabbing them at random.
“The park was quite full. Lots of people were sitting around drinking with friends,” said Lawrence Wort at the Press Association.
“One person walked, suddenly shouted unintelligible words and walked around a large group of about 10 people, trying to stab them.”
Wort said he saw three people stabbed “in the neck and under the arms”.
The perpetrator then threw himself on another group and “had a person in the neck,” said Wort.
“Then when he realized that everyone was running, he fled the park,” said the witness.
Officials said two people were being treated in the emergency department at Berkshire Hospital in Reading.
“A horrible and appalling incident,” tweeted police minister Kit Malthouse.
The main leader of the opposition Labor party, Sir Keir Starmer, called the incident “very worrying”.
Britain has witnessed two terrorist attacks in the past year.
A convicted terrorist who was on parole after serving a sentence for terrorist offenses was shot by police after stabbing five – two fatally – by London Bridge in the heart of the British capital in November.
Police killed another attacker who injured three people in another stabbing attack in London in February.
An overwhelming majority of serious crimes committed in Britain are committed with knives and other knives due to the country’s very strict laws on the possession of firearms.
Johnson’s Conservative government has promised to toughen penalties for crimes related to terrorism after winning a general mandate in the December general election.
