A man in his 70s was stabbed inside London Central Mosque Thursday afternoon, receiving non-life threatening injuries in the attack. Police said the stabbing was not terror-related.
London’s Metropolitan Police were called to the London Central Mosque at Regent’s Park on Thursday afternoon where a man in his 70s, reported to have been a Muezzin — prayer leader — was stabbed by a member of the congregation who police said was “believed to have been attending prayers”.
Officers arrested a 29-year-old man at the scene for attempted murder. The injuries sustained by the victim are not thought to be life-threatening.
British police officers stand on duty outside the London Central Mosque near Regent’s Park in London on February 20, 2020 after a man was stabbed in the mosque. – British police said on Febrary 20 they had arrested a man on suspicion of attempted murder after a stabbing at a mosque in central London. (Photo by Isabel Infantes / AFP) (Photo by ISABEL INFANTES/AFP via Getty Images)
A witness of the attack whose comments were reported by British newspaper The Daily Telegraph said that while the attacker had been seen at the mosque in recent days, he wasn’t a long-term regular. Ayaz Ahmad said: “He has been noticed around the place for a couple of days. This is a central mosque, people come to pray if they’re on holiday. You get a lot of new faces.
“This guy was not a regular, I’ve never seen him here in 10 years.”
Photographs circulated on social media show a bearded man wearing a red top but no shoes or socks being arrested by officers. London’s Metropolitan Police said in an update “Detectives investigating the incident do not believe it to be terror-related.”
The Central London Mosque at Regent’s Park was a feature of another stabbing in 2019, when Kamal Hussain, 22 fled into the mosque after stabbing Zahir Visiter to death nearby. Although the mosque was quickly surrounded by police, Hussain was able to use the building to change out of his “distinctive” hooded top into more anonymous clothes before blending in with the crowd.
Although Hussain and another man he had been with spoke to police officers at the scene, they were not recognised and were able to walk out with worshippers. Hussain was later arrested but found not guilty of murder in October, claiming to have acted in self-defence, and was jailed for manslaughter instead. His friend was acquitted of all charges.
LONDON, ENGLAND – FEBRUARY 20: A police car is stationed after an attack at the London Central Mosque in Park Road, near Regent’s Park on February 20, 2020 in London, England. A man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after allegedly stabbing a 70-year-old man this afternoon inside the mosque near Regent’s Park in Central London. (Photo by Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images)
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