A mosque in central London was sealed off after a man was stabbed to death in the street outside, the latest of a long series of knife crimes in the capital.

Police were called to the scene, Cunningham Place near Regent’s Park, at 6:15pm on Thursday, March 28th, after receiving reports of an attack.

The victim, believed to be a man in his early 20s, was taken to hospital where he later died.

The crime scene included the sealing off of the local London Central Mosque, where it is believed that the attackers fled shortly after. A witness said she saw “two guys” running into the mosque after the stabbing.

A spokesman said officers were currently looking for two attackers who “fled the scene”. Scotland Yard has said the attack is not thought to be terror-related.

London local newspaper the Evening Standard reported Friday that the two suspects used the Mosque to evade capture, and they “washed their faces and feet” before “mingling” with worshippers before leaving in different clothes.

The stabbing comes as London is in the midst of a 40-year high rise in knife crime.

It follows a 15 per cent rise in London knife crime, with 14,987 knife related incidents reported in the city — an average of 41 per day. This represents 38 per cent of all knife crime across England and Wales.

The surge in knife crime is part of a wider rise in crime across the country. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), one in five adults had experienced crime in the year ending June 2018.

The ONS report revealed that “offences involving a knife or a sharp instrument are at the highest level recorded (39,332 offences) since comparable data began to be collected in April 2010”, with offences “concentrated in London and other metropolitan areas”.

As for the background of those involved in the rise in crime, the Evening Standard reports that 73 per cent of offenders and 53 per cent of victims were from a black or minority ethnic background.

Walthamstow MP Stella Creasy previously described the situation by stating that young people are “in the grip” of a “disease”.

Labour MPs and London Mayor Sadiq Khan blame the rise in crime on police cuts by the Conservative government. However, Mr Khan’s administration has so far pushed for greater police resources for online hate crime as well as spending £34 million on ‘green projects’.