Man Arrested after Injuring 10 with Knife on Tokyo Train

Less than usual passengers are seen inside a train after the government announced the state of emergency for the capital following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Tokyo, Japan April 8, 2020. REUTERS/Issei Kato
Less than usual passengers are seen inside a train after the government announced the state of emergency for the capital following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Tokyo, Japan April 8, 2020. REUTERS/Issei Kato
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Man Arrested after Injuring 10 with Knife on Tokyo Train

Less than usual passengers are seen inside a train after the government announced the state of emergency for the capital following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Tokyo, Japan April 8, 2020. REUTERS/Issei Kato
Less than usual passengers are seen inside a train after the government announced the state of emergency for the capital following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Tokyo, Japan April 8, 2020. REUTERS/Issei Kato

Japanese police said Saturday they arrested a man who stabbed 10 passengers on a commuter train in Tokyo hours earlier, in what public broadcaster NHK reported to be a random burst of violence unrelated to the ongoing Olympic Games.

The 36-year-old man told police he wanted to kill women who appeared happy, and chose his targets at random, NHK said. The initial victim, a woman in her 20s, was in serious condition, according to NHK and other Japanese media. Police identified the attacker as Yusuke Tsushima.

The Tokyo Fire Department said nine of the 10 injured passengers were taken to nearby hospitals, while the 10th was able to walk away. All of the injured were conscious, fire department officials said.

The Japanese capital is currently hosting the Olympics, which end Sunday. The site of the stabbing spree was about 15 kilometers away from the main National Stadium.

NHK said the suspect left his knife behind as he fled, and later walked into a convenience store and identified himself as the suspect on the news, and said he was tired of running away. The store manager called police after seeing bloodstains on the man’s shirt.

TBS television said he told police he developed the intent to kill women who “looked happy,” and stabbed a woman who happened to be seated near him in the carriage. He also told police that he chose to stage the attack inside a train because it offered the chance to kill a large number of people.

The suspect was also carrying cooking oil and a lighter, with which he allegedly intended to set a fire inside the carriage, NHK reported, quoting police.

A witness at a nearby station where the train stopped said passengers were rushing out of the carriages, shouting that there was a stabbing and asking for first aid. Another witness told NHK that he saw passengers smeared with blood come out of the train, as an announcer asked for doctors and for passengers carrying towels.

Dozens of paramedics and police arrived at the station, one of the witnesses told The Associated Press.

The stabbing occurred near Seijogakuen station, according to railway operator Odakyu Electric Railway Co.



5 Killed in Courthouse Attack in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchestan Province, Iranian Media Report

Iranian security forces. (EPA file)
Iranian security forces. (EPA file)
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5 Killed in Courthouse Attack in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchestan Province, Iranian Media Report

Iranian security forces. (EPA file)
Iranian security forces. (EPA file)

An armed attack by the Jaish al-Adl Baluch group on a courthouse in Iran’s restive southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan province killed at least five people and injured 13, Iranian media reported.

Three assailants were also killed in the ensuing clashes with security forces, a senior police official told the state news agency IRNA.

He said a mother and child were among those killed by the gunmen who threw a hand grenade into the building in Zahedan, the capital of Sistan-Baluchestan.

In a statement posted on its Telegram account, Jaish al-Adl took responsibility for the attack and urged "all civilians to immediately evacuate the area of clashes for their safety".

The Baluch human rights group HAALVSH, quoting eyewitnesses, said several judiciary staff members and security personnel were killed or wounded when the assailants stormed the judges’ chambers.

Sistan-Baluchestan province, near the borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan, is home to Iran’s Baluch minority, who have long complained of economic marginalization and political exclusion.

The province frequently sees clashes between security forces and armed groups, including militants and separatists who say they are fighting for greater rights and autonomy.

The Iranian government accuses some of them of ties to foreign powers and involvement in cross-border smuggling and insurgency.