A man was arrested after attacking passengers on a train in Tokyo, Japan, with a knife this Sunday. The Japanese public television channel NHK mentioned at least eight injured, including one serious, while the Kyodo news agency mentioned 15 injured. He then allegedly tried to start a fire.
The man poured liquid on board the train and lit it, several media reported. The attack took place around 8 p.m. local time, noon in France, when polling stations were closing in the country which was organizing parliamentary elections on Sunday. A video circulating on Twitter showed passengers evacuating through windows the train immobilized at a station. When asked, the police declined to comment, and the Keio railway company was not immediately reachable.
Two other assaults in August
Assaults are rare in Japan, where gun laws are otherwise extremely strict. However in August, two more attacks took place on Tokyo public transport. In early August, while the Olympic Games were being held in the Japanese capital, a knife attack on another suburban train left ten people injured. Then on August 24, two people suffered burns with sulfuric acid in a metro station in the capital. In both cases, the suspects, Japanese, were arrested soon after.