Police officer and three men are stabbed in mosque as man is arrested on suspicion of attempted murder

Police at the scene of the incident. A 32-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after the attack

Daily Mail
Sunday, June 16, 2013

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Three men and a police officer were stabbed at a mosque in Birmingham last night.

The male police constable was responding to reports that three men had been stabbed inside the Madrasah Qasim ul Uloom mosque in the Ward End area of the city when he was attacked.

The four men are being treated in hospital for their wounds and are described as 'stable'.

A 32-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and is currently in custody, a police spokeswoman added.

'The three people and the officer have been taken to hospital, all are currently described as stable.'

Officers are conducting patrols in the area in a bid to reassure local people and a cordon is in place while investigations continue, she added.

All three men and the officer were stabbed inside the mosque, the police spokeswoman confirmed.

A man who was praying at the time has claimed that the suspect, who regularly attended the mosque, was involved in a heated argument moments before the attack.

The eye-witness, who asked not to be named, said: 'The man, who is from Somalia, had been at the mosque for the last prayer of the day before the men started arguing.

'It turned violent quite quickly. Some people tried to get the man to calm down and asked him to leave.

'But next thing he had stabbed the three men and everybody just panicked - it was an extremely scary thing to witness. This is a place of worship and respect - not a battlefield.'

Resident Madaser Hussain said the atmosphere in the community was unpleasant following the incident.

'There shouldn't be any bloodshed on the streets or anywhere,' he said. 'We should be one community, really.'

He said he did not know anything about an argument between worshippers but saw people running out of the mosque last night.

'All I heard was loud noises and people screaming,' he said.'I live round here, I was walking and I

went past and heard screams, as I was about to enter I saw people rushing out so I knew there was something wrong but I didn't go in to see what had happened

'Men were running out and saying "there's been people stabbed inside there".'

West Midlands Police have however refused to rule out any motives yet as they are in the early stages of their investigations.

A spokesman for the force said: 'It is too early to rule anything out and our officers are at the scene as they investigate four attempted murders.

'The suspect will remain in custody for questioning.'

Mohammed Shafiq, the leader of national Muslim organisation the Ramadhan Foundation, said: 'The Ramadhan Foundation expresses its deep concern at the stabbing of three people and a police officer in the Ward End mosque in Birmingham last night.

'Our immediate thoughts are with the victims injured and their families.

'It is too early to speculate on the circumstances of the stabbings but we must be clear there should be no place for this sort of violence in our country.

'There will obviously be people who will try to take advantage of this tragedy but we must not allow them to succeed.'

A nearby resident reported hearing an argument coming from inside the mosque and believes it was a domestic incident between members, Mr Shafiq added.

'I have spoken to someone who lives a few doors down from the mosque and they described hearing an argument between some of the people inside the mosque,' he said.

'It escalated into violence and a police officer has been stabbed.

'People, anti-Muslim extremists, are going to try to take advantage of this - it's very serious that a police officer has been stabbed during duty.

'The aftermath of the brutal murder of Lee Rigby has led to an increase of attacks. The involvement of a police officer in this incident obviously causes more concern.'

Liam Byrne, MP for Birmingham Hodge Hill, said 'This is a devastating attack which has left the community extremely shaken.

'What appears to have happened is that one worshipper turned on a number of other worshippers.

'What is already clear is that this was not a hate crime - this was a tragic, sad, and isolated incident.

'What's really important now is that people stay very calm. We pray for those who've been hurt and rally round their families and we let justice now take its course.

'The police have somebody in custody and I think what we would want to say is that it's been brilliant how police and the community came together to contain the incident last night.

'And above all, we want to praise the courage of West Midlands Police, they will do anything and everything to keep people safe in this community.'

Councillor Majid Mahmood, representing the Birmingham Hodge Hill ward, said 'It's a real shock to the community that an officer was injured last night. It was an isolated incident and definitely not race or hate crime related.

'But what is very clear is that this was an isolated incident and officers responded extremely quickly but when they arrived the man who suffers from mental health issues charged at them with a knife.

'The man is known to have prayed at the mosque on several occasions but was not a daily user and would use it on an ad hoc basis.

'The attack was brutal and unjustified but certainly not a representative of our close and safe community.'

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