TOKYO – A man was detained after a knife and fire attack on a train in Tokyo today, Japanese media said, with at least eight people reportedly injured and one in a serious condition.
Media outlets including public broadcaster NHK said the man started a fire on the train.
The method was unclear but reports also said the man had spread a liquid around the train carriage.
A video posted on Twitter showed people climbing through windows to escape the Keio Line train at a station.
Train company officials could not immediately be reached for comment on the reported attack, which took place around 8pm just as polls closed in the country’s general election.
Kyodo News said today that 15 people had been injured in the attack, with NHK reporting a lower number of eight.
Violent crime is rare in Japan, but in August, nine people were wounded, one of them seriously, in a stabbing attack on a commuter train in Tokyo, with the suspect later handing himself in after fleeing the scene.
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 aboard a bullet train. – AFP, October 31, 2021
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