Police are investigating a south London stabbing they believe could have been terrorism related.
They were called to a Wimbledon address shortly before 3pm on Friday (March 29) after a man in his 30s was attacked.
The man sustained a leg injury.
Emergency services treated the man at the scene and then took him to hospital where his condition was assessed as stable and not life-threatening.
At this stage, police have said that it is not clear why the victim was attacked, and police have said they are keeping an open mind as to the motivation for the attack.
However, as the victim was a journalist at a Persian-language media organisation based in the UK and the fact that there has been a number of threats directed towards this group of journalists recently, the incident is being investigated by specialist officers from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command.
Commander Dominic Murphy, Head of the Met's Counter Terrorism Command, said: "While we are keeping an open mind, given the occupation of the victim and our publicised concerns about the threat to employees of that organisation, the investigation is being led by the Counter Terrorism Command.
“I must stress that, at this early stage of our investigation, we do not know the reason why this victim was attacked and there could be a number of explanations for this.
“While we continue to assess the circumstances of this incident, detectives are following a number of lines of enquiry and our priority at this time is to try and identify whoever was behind this attack and to arrest them.
“I appreciate the wider concern this incident may cause – particularly amongst others in similar lines of work, and those from Iranian communities.
“We continue to work closely with the victim’s organisation and as a precaution we’ll have additional patrols in the Wimbledon area as well as other sites around London to provide reassurance over the coming days to those affected and concerned.
“Finally, I would urge anyone in the Wimbledon area who may have seen anything or anyone acting suspiciously today to get in touch with us.”
Anyone with information should contact police by calling 0800 789 321.
Counter Terrorism Policing deals with threats projected into the UK from Iran, police said.
According to the Metropolitan Police, since 2022 a number of plots to either kidnap or kill British or UK-based individuals perceived as enemies of the Iranian regime have been disrupted.
Specialist officers are liaising closely with individuals and organisations affected, including Persian-language media organisations – to give them appropriate safety and security advice.
The Counter Terrorism Policing team continues to work closely with intelligence partners and others to counter these types of threat.
This is done either through protective security measures or disruptive action.
Police ask that anyone with concerns over their own safety or the safety of somebody else call their local police force.
They also ask the public to remain vigilant and report anything that doesn’t look or feel right to police by calling 0800 789 321 or call 999 if it is an emergency.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here