Man Charged After Five Injured in Knife Attacks Across Edinburgh

A 36-year-old man was charged after five people were injured in attacks at multiple locations across Edinburgh on Friday night. Four of the injured required hospital treatment, though none of the injuries were believed to be life-threatening. CCTV footage obtained by BBC News shows the man driving a dark car erratically onto Leith Walk and straddling it across a cycle lane.

He abandoned the vehicle, ran toward a man on an e-bike, then returned briefly to the car before running toward a black man who had stepped off a tram. The topless man, with a cigarette in his mouth, repeatedly struck at the black man using two large knives. The victim ran away, and the attacker gave up the chase before battering the door of a pizzeria on Leith Walk.

Minutes later he ran onto Leith Walk and attacked a delivery driver on an e-bike, causing the driver to fall off. Police arrived and detained the man about five minutes after he first pulled up on Leith Walk. The arrest occurred eight minutes after the man arrived in the street.

Officers equipped with Tasers confronted and detained him; the Tasers were not discharged. Two of the injured men, both aged 22, had attended Asr prayers at Broomhouse mosque about half an hour before being attacked. They were sitting in Sighthill Park near the mosque at about 20:00 when approached by a man.

They were stabbed multiple times, taken to hospital, and discharged on Saturday. The other three injured individuals were aged 24, 27, and 39. The attacker is believed to have travelled from Sighthill to the Shell petrol station on Telford Road, where a taxi driver was confronted, his car was vandalised, and an axe was thrown through the vehicle's window.

At the BP petrol station on Ferry Road, a man stood beside a black vehicle with its windscreen smashed, entered the shop, wandered multiple times, and pushed multiple shelves over. Counter-terrorism police joined the probe into the suspected anti-Muslim attacks. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer stated the suspect appeared to be motivated by anti-Muslim hatred.