Girl, 11, and her mum stabbed in ‘targeted attack’ in London’s Leicester Square saved by tea shop worker

A security guard tackled a knifeman to the ground as he attacked an 11-year-old girl and her mum, 34, in central London’s Leicester Square.

Staff at TWG Tea Shop told Metro.co.uk at the scene their co-worker Abdullah rushed into action to pounce on the attacker during the incident in central London in which he ‘deliberately targeted’ the girl.

Metropolitan Police said a man has been arrested following the attack in the busy tourist area in central London at around 11.36am today.

One worker, who did not want to be named, said: ‘Without Abdul she would have definitely been killed on the spot.

‘The guy was aiming for the young girl’s face and chest, even her eyes had cuts all around them – she was covered in blood.

‘But Abdul jumped on him and managed to restrain. He held him down for nearly 15 minutes before police arrived. The girl would have been killed instantly if he wasn’t there.’

The girl was taken to hospital seriously injured but her condition is not thought to be life threatening.

Police do not believe the victims and the attacker are known to each other.

Abdullah said he managed to wrestle the knife off of the attacker.

He said: ‘I heard a scream, at that moment I saw there was one person, roughly (in their) mid-30s or early 30s, and he was like stabbing a kid.

‘I jumped on him, held the hand in which he was (carrying) a knife, and just put him down on the floor and just held him and took the knife away from him.

‘Then a couple of more people joined as well, and we just held him until the police came, it took maybe three to four minutes for the police to arrive and then they just took him into custody.’

The workers took the young girl and the woman, who they say had stab wounds to her hands, into their shop while calling the ambulance.

Another worker told Metro.co.uk: ‘It was traumatising to watch. Nothing is safe here in London anymore.

‘You could hear the poor girl screaming at him to stop, with the woman shouting “why are you doing this”.

A cordon was put in place around the double doors of the shop.

It is beside the Lego store and in front of the M&M store where families and tourists are still standing in queues.

The Met says it is not looking for anyone else in connection with the attack.

Detective Chief Superintendent Christina Jessah, in charge of policing for Westminster, said: ‘This is a horrific incident and our thoughts are with the victims and their family. We will continue to provide support to them over the coming days and weeks.

‘I would like to pay tribute to the members of the public, including staff from local businesses, who bravely intervened in this incident. They put themselves at risk and showed the best of London in doing so.

‘An urgent investigation is now ongoing and detectives are working to establish the details around exactly what happened.

‘At this stage we don’t believe the suspect and the victims were known to each other.

‘While we continue to work to establish the suspect’s motive, at this stage there is nothing to indicate the attack was terror-related.

‘Detectives will be keen to speak to anyone who was in the area and may have information that can assist with their enquiries. I would urge anyone who can help to get in touch.’

A spokesperson for London Ambulance Service said: ‘We were called at 11.36am on Monday 12 August to reports of a stabbing at Leicester Square.

‘We sent resources to the scene, including an ambulance crew, an advanced paramedic and an incident response officer. We also dispatched members of our tactical response unit.

‘We treated a child and an adult at the scene and took them to a major trauma centre.’

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