Leicester Square stabbing: Girl, 11, and woman, 34, attacked as security guard tells how he 'jumped on' knifeman

A man has been arrested after an 11-year-old girl and 34-year-old woman were stabbed in London's Leicester Square.

The Metropolitan Police said the 11-year-old girl will require hospital treatment but her injuries are not life threatening. The second victim suffered more minor injuries.

The 32-year-old man is in custody and he is thought to be the only suspect. It is currently unclear whether the man was known to the victims.

A police cordon has been put in place surrounding the double doors of the TWG Tea shop at the popular tourist spot.

A bloodied cloth and blood spatters could be seen on the pavement at the scene.

Pollce said they were not treating the incident as terrorism related.

A security guard has told how he "jumped on" and took a knife from the knifeman.

The guard, who gave his name as Abdullah, 29, said he had worked in security at the TWG Tea shop for the past "seven to eight months".

"I heard a scream, at that moment I saw there was one person, roughly mid-30s or early 30s, and he was like stabbing a kid - I jumped on him, held the hand in which he was (carrying) a knife, and just put him down on the floor and just held him and took the knife away from him,” he said.

"Then a couple of more people joined as well, and we just held him until the police came, it took maybe three to four minutes for the police to arrive and then they just took him into custody."

He and his colleagues gave first aid to the child before the police joined in, he said.

"I just saw a kid getting stabbed and I just tried to save her. It's my duty to just save them,” he added.

The square and the surrounding area have an estimated 2.5 million visitors every week and are home to shops, theatres, cinemas and restaurants.

The cordon is beside the LEGO store and in front of the M&M store, and families and tourists are still standing in queues for each.

One horrified witness said: “A lady and her daughter were just stabbed right by us at work.”

At least six police officers are at the scene.

Met Detective Chief Superintendent Christina Jessah said: “This is a horrific incident and our thoughts are with the victims and their family. We will continue to provide support to them over the coming days and weeks.

“I would like to pay tribute to the members of the public, including staff from local businesses, who bravely intervened in this incident. They put themselves at risk and showed the best of London in doing so.

“An urgent investigation is now ongoing and detectives are working to establish the details around exactly what happened.

“At this stage we don’t believe the suspect and the victims were known to each other.

“While we continue to work to establish the suspect’s motive, at this stage there is nothing to indicate the attack was terror-related.”

A London Ambulance Service spokesman said: "We were called at 11.36am on Monday August 12 to reports of a stabbing at Leicester Square.

"We sent resources to the scene, including an ambulance crew, an advanced paramedic and an incident response officer. We also dispatched members of our tactical response unit.

"We treated a child and an adult at the scene and took them to a major trauma centre."

Police and ministers are separately on "high alert" over the violent disorder that swept through parts of Britain despite tensions appearing to subside over the weekend.

Police had been braced for further riots but no widespread unrest arose after a large turnout of anti-racism protesters and warnings that those involved could face 10-year prison sentences.