Three people have been rushed to hospital following a stabbing near Liverpool Street station in central London.
Witnesses described seeing people on the ground and blood at the scene of a suspected attempted robbery on Thursday morning.
Police are searching for two suspects who fled the scene on Bishopsgate near the busy rail station. No arrests have been so far
Three victims were taken to hospital with non life-threatening injuries after the attack, while a fourth was treated by paramedics at the scene.
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Medical kits and blood were seen scattered on a stretch of pavement near Liverpool Street station on Thursday morning.
Emergency service vehicles were seen on the road by the 22 Bishopsgate skyscraper in footage shared on social media.
London Ambulance Service said it sent a number of resources to reports of a stabbing on Bishopsgate shortly before 10am on Thursday.
“Our crews treated four patients. We have now taken three of these patients to hospital and one was assessed and discharged at the scene,” a spokesperson said.
City of London Police said it received reports three people had been stabbed and another pushed to the floor just after 9.45am. Officers were at the scene within minutes, the force said.
It said the incident was being treated as a suspected robbery.
Chief Superintendent Steve Heatley from the force later said: “Two suspects are being sought as part of the ongoing investigation related to an attempted phone theft and is not being treated as terror-related.”
He added: “Stopping phone thefts and bringing perpetrators to justice is a priority for City of London Police. The number of phone snatches is down, due to focused effort including working with colleagues in the Metropolitan Police Service last week to make several arrests.”
A local shop owner said he saw fighting break out around Bishopsgate on Thursday morning.
“A guy was shouting ‘oi oi oi’ and running that way. A few minutes later there were four guys on the floor,” 53-year-old Sayeed Duknwala told MyLondon.
“I believe the guy was stealing phones from pedestrian.”
A delivery driver who was in the area told the local paper: “The attackers tried to steal someone’s phone. Then three pedestrians and one guy on a motorbike came to help and they got attacked.”
Another witness, who went by the scene on a bus, told MyLondon: “There was a fair amount of blood visible but the casualties were behind a white screen.”
Office workers in the area were reportedly on lockdown on Thursday morning following the attack.
City of London Police said investigations were ongoing.
