Man with knife stabs at least 10 on Tokyo train, sets train on fire
Tokyo, Oct 31: A man brandishing a knife on a Tokyo commuter train on Sunday stabbed several passengers before starting a fire, police said.
NHK public television said at least 10 passengers were injured, including one seriously.
The attacker, only identified as a man in his 20s, was arrested on the spot and was being investigated on suspicion of attempted murder, NHK said. His motive was not immediately known.
Tokyo police officials said the attack happened inside the Keio train near the Kokuryo station.
Television footage showed a number of firefighters, police officials and paramedics rescuing the passengers, many of whom escaped through train windows.
In one video, passengers were running from another tramcar, where flames were gushing.
NHK said the suspect, after stabbing passengers, poured a liquid resembling oil and set fire.
Shunsuke Kimura, who filmed the video, told NHK that he saw passengers desperately running and while he was trying to figure out what happened, he heard an explosive noise and saw smoke wafting.
The attack was the second involving a knife on a Tokyo train in two months.
In August, the day before the Tokyo Olympics closing ceremony, a 36-year-old man stabbed 10 passengers on a commuter train in Tokyo in a random burst of violence.
The suspect later told police that he wanted to attack women who looked happy.
Someone set a train in fire in Tokyo (Keio line) 😱
— Francisco Presencia (@FPresencia) October 31, 2021
Stay safe folks! https://t.co/ak5OEAckGb#京王線　#事件 pic.twitter.com/PBGlTofDwm
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Congress protests at Utkal Bhavan over killing of Bengali migrant worker in Odisha
Kolkata (PTI): The Congress on Tuesday staged a protest in front of Utkal Bhavan here against the killing of a migrant worker from Murshidabad district in Odisha, alleging a growing pattern of violence against Bengali-speaking workers across several states.
The demonstration was led by Congress leader Manoj Chakraborty, who said the latest incident in Odisha, where a young man from Murshidabad was allegedly beaten to death, reflected an alarming trend of harassment and attacks on Bengali migrant workers.
Chakraborty claimed that workers from West Bengal were being targeted and "tortured" in states such as Odisha, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, often merely for speaking the Bengali language.
"The workers are forced to leave their homes because there is no livelihood, no jobs, in their areas. When they go outside the state to earn a living, they are attacked for their identity," Chakraborty told reporters during the protest.
Demanding immediate government intervention, the Congress leader said the safety of migrant workers must be ensured through institutional measures. He urged the government to issue official identity cards to all migrant workers at the earliest.
"These identity cards should clearly mention the worker's home district, the local police station and the contact number of a police officer so that they can seek immediate help while working outside the state," he said.
The Congress leader said that such incidents would continue unless concrete steps were taken to protect migrant workers.
A 30-year-old migrant worker from West Bengal was allegedly killed in Odisha's Sambalpur district following an altercation over a bidi recently, police said.
Juel Sheikh was working, along with a few others from West Bengal, in the construction of a building in Shanti Nagar in the Ainthapalli police station area.
They were returning from work when a group of six men stopped them and asked for a bidi. An altercation broke out, leading to a scuffle between the two sides, police said.
Juel was thrashed severely, and he died while undergoing treatment at the Sambalpur hospital. The six accused persons have been arrested by the police.
West Bengal's ruling TMC claimed that Juel was beaten to death over suspicion that he was an illegal Bangladeshi immigrant.
