Four injured in knife attack on Tokyo train

Tokyo — Four people were injured after a man with a knife ran amok on train in Tokyo, the Mainichi newspaper reported, citing unidentified police sources.

At about 8.40pm local time (11.40am GMT) several people told police they had been stabbed while on a train on the Odakyu Odawara Line in the western part of the city, the paper said. What appeared to be a kitchen knife was left on the train, the Mainichi said.

The four injured people were conscious and their lives were in no danger. Tokyo police took a man believed to be the perpetrator into custody at about 10pm local time, according to the newspaper.

Police were not immediately available for comment.

Violent crime is rare in Japan but there have been a spate of knife attacks by assailants unknown to the victims.

In June 2008, a man in a light truck drove into a crowd in the popular Akihabara district and then jumped out of the vehicle and started stabbing pedestrians, leaving seven dead.

Reuters