American Woman Killed in London Knife Attack

An American woman was killed by a man with suspected mental health issues who went on the rampage with a knife in London, police said on Thursday, adding there was no evidence to suggest the attack was terrorism-related.

“The woman who was murdered was an American national. Those injured were Australian, American, Israeli and British,” Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley told reporters outside police headquarters in central London.

No further details of the victims were immediately available.

Rowley said that a Norwegian national of Somali origin had been detained but they had found no evidence of radicalization to suggest the motive was related to terrorism.

“All of the work we have done so far increasingly points to this tragic incident as having been triggered by mental health issues,” he said.

“We believe this was a spontaneous attack and that the victims were selected at random.

“So far we have found no evidence of radicalization that would suggest that the man in our custody is in any way motivated by terrorism.”

Earlier media reports had suggested one of the wounded was a Spanish national but Rowley made no mention of any Spanish victims.