UK counter-terrorism police launch probe into Manchester stabbing

British counter-terrorism police are investigating an attack by a man armed with a kitchen knife at Manchester Victoria train station that injured three people, including a police officer, on New Year’s Eve.

Greater Manchester Police said they were keeping an open mind about the motive, adding there was no intelligence to suggest a wider threat.

A male police officer was stabbed in his shoulder, and another man and a woman were taken to hospital with serious knife injuries after the attack at the Manchester Victoria railway station Monday night, Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said in a statement posted to Twitter.

Police said they have detained a man for questioning on suspicion of attempted murder. "Tonight's events will have understandably worried people but I need to stress that the incident is not ongoing, a man is in custody and there is currently no intelligence to suggest there is any greater threat at this time," GMP Assistant Chief Constable Rob Potts said.

"While we don't yet know the full circumstances and are keeping an open mind, officers from Counter Terrorism Policing North West are leading on the investigation."

Those injured, a woman and a man in their 50s, were in a serious but not life-threatening condition, police said. A male police officer in his 30s who sustained a stab wound to his shoulder was released from the hospital early on Tuesday morning.

Police said they would step up their presence in the city where a suicide bomb attack in May 2017 killed 22 people as they left an Ariana Grande concert.

Britain is on its second-highest threat level of severe, meaning an attack is considered highly likely. Security officials say they are facing record levels of work in countering Islamist militants as well as far-right extremists after four major attacks last year.

The cordon at Victoria Station, closed after the attack, will be lifted shortly, the police said on Twitter.