TOKYO, 1 Jan 2019:
A car ploughed into crowds celebrating New Year’s Day early today in a suspected terror attack – leaving eight people injured, including one who was unconscious.
A police spokesman said one suspect, in his 20s, had been detained and that he had described the incident as an “act of terror”. The spokesman declined to elaborate.
The incident happened shortly after midnight local time in a popular tourist area of Harajuku, near Meiji Shrine, in central Tokyo.
“I can’t believe it, this is a place I’m familiar with, so it’s very shocking,” said Tatsuhiro Yaegashi, a 27-year-old worker in the area.
Separately, British counter-terrorism police are investigating stabbings at Manchester Victoria train station that left three people injured – including a police officer – on New Year’s Eve, the Greater Manchester Police said.
Police were, however, keeping an open mind as there was no intelligence suggesting a wider threat, the Greater Manchester Police said in a statement posted on Twitter. They said a man is in custody and those injured were in a “serious” but not life-threatening condition.
The stabbings occurred at about 8:50pm.
“Tonight’s events will have understandably worried people but I need to stress that the incident is not ongoing, a man is in custody and there is currently no intelligence to suggest there is any wider threat at this time,” assistant chief constable Rob Potts said in a statement.
Police said the man in custody is being held for “questioning on suspicion of attempted murder.”
Britain is currently on its second-highest threat level of severe, meaning an attack is considered highly likely and security officials say they are facing record levels of work in countering Islamist militants as well as far-right extremists after four major attacks last year.
Manchester itself was the scene of a suicide bomb attack in May 2017 that killed 22 people as they left an Ariana Grande concert.
A witness in Manchester said there were police officers around the train station, which remained closed several hours after the incident. All was calm as New Year revellers, including children, walked past.
A BBC producer who was a witness at the station described the attacker as wielding a large kitchen knife and who linked his actions to “bombings in other countries”.
“I heard the man say, As long as you keep bombing these countries this is going to keep happening,” the producer, Sam Clack, told BBC 5 Live radio. “It was very very scary.”
Also, at least two people were killed and 21 others wounded – including a four-year-old girl – when an improvised explosive device (IED) exploded yesterday afternoon near the entrance of a mall in Cotabato City in the southern Philippines.
Philippine military and police authorities said the explosion happened around 1.59pm local time in front of a major mall, as hundreds of people were shopping for the New Year’s Eve revelry.
The blast went off near the baggage counter outside the mall, said Guerlie Frondoza, a staff of the Cotabato city government.
Major general Cirilito Sobejana, commander of the Philippine Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said the explosion killed two people and injured 21 others.
Cotabato city police said an unidentified man dropped a wrapped box in the area shortly before the explosion. The victims were rushed to the nearest hospital, according to local police.
Sobejana said another unexploded IED was recovered from the site after the explosion, adding that the police are investigating the incident and trying to identify the type of IED used by the perpetrators.
Sobejana said the military and police were still determining the suspects but they knew that some local extremist groups are trying to sow terror on the city. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.
Southern Philippines has been the hotbed of violent extremism and has seen a brewing rebellion for decades. In more recent years, the area witnessed more violence such as the siege of Marawi city and bombings in major cities.
On Dec 12, the Philippine Congress approved a further extension of martial law in the southern Philippines until the end of 2019 to quell a continuing rebellion in the region.
– Reuters, Bernama