Man Dressed as Joker Injures 17 on Tokyo Train

Reuters

Tokyo: A 24-year-old man dressed as Batman’s nemesis The Joker has attacked passengers on a Tokyo train line, injuring about 17 people as partygoers headed into the city centre for Halloween gatherings, media reports say.

Police arrested the suspected attacker on the spot, media reported.

A man in his 60s was unconscious and in critical condition after being stabbed while witnesses also said the attacker had spread fluid around the train and started a fire, according to media.

One video uploaded on Twitter and broadcast on NHK showed a steady stream of people running away from a train car where, seconds later, a small explosion caused a fire.

Another video showed passengers rushing to squeeze out of the train’s windows and onto the platform where the train had made an emergency stop.

“I thought it was a Halloween stunt,” one witness told the Yomiuri newspaper, recalling the moment he saw other passengers running in a panic towards his train car.

“Then, I saw a man walking this way, slowly waving a long knife.”

He said there was blood on the knife.

Another video on Twitter showed a bespectacled man dressed in a purple suit and bright green shirt, as worn by The Joker, seated in an empty train puffing on a cigarette, his legs crossed and looking calm.

He can be seen through the window being surrounded by law enforcement in a subsequent clip.

Local media reported later that the suspect told authorities he “wanted to kill people so he could be sentenced to death”.

The attack occurred on the Keio express line bound for Shinjuku, the world’s busiest rail station, at about 8pm, media said.

Partial service on the Keio line remained suspended late on Sunday, when Japanese voters went to the polls in a lower house election.

TV footage showed scores of firefighters, police and emergency vehicles outside the station where the train had stopped.

رويترز

طوكيو: ذكرت وسائل إعلام يابانية أن رجلا تعرض لإصابات خطيرة فيما أُصيب سبعة عشر آخرين في هجوم بسلاح أبيض ومادة حمضية وحارقة على أحد خطوط القطارات الرئيسية في العاصمة طوكيو يوم الأحد.

وقالت وسائل الإعلام إن المهاجم المشتبه به شاب في العشرينات من العمر وإن السلطات ألقت القبض عليه في موقع الحادث.

وأفادت وسائل الإعلام بأن الهجوم وقع على خط كيو للقطارات المتجه إلى محطة شينجوكو، أكثر محطات السكك الحديدية استقبالا للركاب في العالم. وقالت وسائل الإعلام إن الحادث وقع في حوالي الساعة الثامنة مساء بالتوقيت المحلي (1100 بتوقيت جرينتش).

وفي مقطع مصور على تويتر ولقطات لهيئة الإذاعة اليابانية، يظهر الركاب وهم يهرعون من عربة قطار قبل لحظات من نشوب حريق محدود.