Screams of horror as at least five are injured in samurai sword rampage

A MAN has been arrested after five people including two police officers were attacked with a samurai sword in a “horrific” rampage today.

- Anthony France, Jacob Phillips and John Dunne

Police were alerted to a van being driven into a house in Hainault, east London, at 7am before reports that a number of people in the Thurlow Gardens area had been stabbed. There were unconfirmed reports that a 13-year-old child was among those hurt.

Footage of a man in a yellow hoodie and black jeans, brandishing a large blade, were posted to social media.

Residents said they awoke to “piercing screams” and a man “covered in blood” outside their homes a short distance from Hainault Tube station, which is in zone four on the Central line. London Ambulance Service said paramedics treated five people at the scene before taking them to hospital.

A neighbour told the Standard: “I woke up this morning to a crash. A van had driven straight into the side of the house opposite me. I then heard a load of screaming and it turned out a fella who had gone to see if the bloke was okay got stabbed in the neck by the driver.