LONDON (AP) — Police in London said a man was stabbed during afternoon prayers at one of the city’s biggest mosques Thursday and officers detained another man on suspicion of attempted murder.
The Metropolitan Police force said officers called to the London Central Mosque found a man in his 70s with stab wounds. Paramedics treated the man before he was taken to a hospital, where his injuries were determined as not life-threatening, the force said.
Police said another man was arrested at the mosque, located near Regent’s Park in central London, on suspicion of attempted murder.
On Twitter, mosque-goers posted images of police holding a man in a red-hooded top down on the mosque floor. A small knife could be seen under a chair.
Witnesses said the injured man was the mosque’s muezzin, the person who calls Muslims to prayers.
Police did not speculate on a possible motive.
British Muslims have been the target of past attacks by far-right extremists. In June 2018, an attacker drove a van into a crowd of people leaving evening prayers in London. One man died and a dozen people were injured.
