The knifeman who stabbed Sir Salman Rushdie in the neck has been named by police.
Three law enforcement sources identified the attacker as 24-year-old Hadi Matar, NBC News reports.
Police said Sir Salman had been airlifted to hospital after a man rushed on stage and stabbed him in the neck at an event.
The Satanic Verses author, 75, was attacked at the Chautauqua Institution, in New York, just before he was about to deliver a lecture.
Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa - a death sentence - on Sir Salman after the publication of his controversial novel in 1988.
The author's attacker has now been identified as Matar, who previously lived in Fairview, New Jersey.
Sir Salman is currently undergoing surgery in hospital, his agent said.
Major Eugene J Staniszewski, of the New York State Police, said: "On August 12 2022 at about 11am a male suspect ran up onto the stage and attacked Rushdie and an interviewer.
"Rushdie suffered an apparent stab wound to the neck and was transported by helicopter to an area hospital.
"His condition is not yet known. The interviewer suffered a minor head injury. A State Trooper assigned to the event immediately took the suspect into custody."
New York state governor Kathy Hochul confirmed Sir Salman was still alive after the attack.
She said he is "getting the care he needs" in hospital.
The author's agent confirmed he is now in surgery.
Sir Salman fell to the floor after an attacker punched and lunged at him on stage, witnesses said.
Witnesses said they saw the author bleeding heavily, with blood sent across the stage, his chair and a nearby backdrop.
Medics were seen raising his legs as the writer went into shock before he was flown by helicopter to hospital.
Witness Ward Pautler said Sir Salman had just come out and sat down on stage when he was attacked by an individual described as “heavy set and wearing a black headpiece.”
Sitting just three rows away from the stage - next to his brother-in-law - Mr Pautler said he thought the assailant was “punching Rushdie, but then I realised he was stabbing him.”
“It didn’t take long for me to realise that he wasn’t punching Rushdie because you don’t punch with the side of your hand,” he added.
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As people moved Sir Salman away from the table, Mr Pautler said “there were other people with towels wiping up the blood on the stage.”
“It’s so surreal. The more you think about it, the scarier it seems,” he added.
Rita Landman, who was in the audience at the Chautauqua Institution, told the New York Times that Sir Salmon was stabbed "multiple times".
She added that there was a pool of his own blood under his body, although he appeared to be alive.
