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A man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a stabbing inside a central London mosque.

The victim, in his 70s, was injured in an attack at London Central Mosque, near Regent’s Park, which police are not treating as terror-related. He was taken to hospital by paramedics where his condition has been assessed as non-life threatening.

A 29-year-old man was apprehended by worshippers who broke from prayer to restrain him until police arrived.

In a statement, the mosque said the injured man was the muezzin, the person who makes the call to prayer, and he had been stabbed shortly after 15:00 GMT during afternoon prayer. The mosque’s director general, Dr Ahmad Al Dubayan said he had a brief phone conversation with the muezzin in hospital, who said he was «okay and feeling well».

Ayaz Ahmad, an adviser to the mosque, said the stabbing «would have been life-threatening if it wasn’t for the worshippers».

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A gunman opened fire on two shisha bars in the western German city of Hanau, killing at least eight people and injuring several others, police say.

The shootings took place around 22:00 (21:00 GMT) on Wednesday. In both places the clientele were reported to have been predominantly Kurdish.

The suspect then fled to his home where he was later found dead along with the body of a second person. The motive for the attacks is unclear. An investigation is ongoing.

Police say the suspect killed himself. The Bild tabloid reports he was a German citizen with a firearms licence, and that ammunition and gun magazines were found in his car.

According to Bild, he expressed far-right views in a letter of confession and a video but this has not been confirmed officially.

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Sinn Féin’s deputy leader Michelle O’Neill has said police have told her dissident republicans are planning a bomb attack on a party member’s car.

It comes six days after the deputy first minister said she and party colleague Gerry Kelly were threatened.

Mr Kelly said on Tuesday that he had been checking under his car for a bomb «for a considerable period of time». «There’s adults in our house now with children and I told them to be very careful,» said the North Belfast MLA.

Mrs O’Neill said on Monday that she had been told an attack on a Sinn Féin member «could happen anywhere» in Northern Ireland. «This is literally a threat against thousands of Sinn Féin members and their families in the north,» she added.

The party has come under threat after its attendance at the recent opening of the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s (PSNI) recruitment campaign.

The PSNI said it condemned threats «against anyone in our society», adding that it recognised the «alarm and distress they cause».

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Turkey’s president says it is «only a matter of time» before it launches an operation to stop a Syrian army assault on opposition-held Idlib province.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned in a speech that he was determined to transform the border area into a safe place «at any cost».

Syria’s government and its ally Russia have rejected his demand to pull back to ceasefire lines agreed in 2018.

The offensive has displaced some 900,000 civilians since 1 December. Hundreds have been killed during that period, the vast majority of them victims of attacks by the Syrian government and its allies, according to the UN. Children are also dying from the cold. «Hostilities are now approaching densely populated areas. People are on the move in freezing temperatures in search of safety which has become ever more difficult,» UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric told reporters on Monday.

«The secretary-general calls for an immediate ceasefire. International humanitarian law must be upheld. There is no military solution,» he added.
Idlib is the last stronghold of the rebel and jihadist fighters who have been trying to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad since 2011.

In recent years an influx of displaced people has doubled its population to about three million, including one million children.

Turkey, which backs the opposition to Mr Assad and fears another massive influx of Syrian refugees, has deployed troops to observation posts in Idlib under an agreement with Russia that set up a de-escalation zone — the 2018 Sochi accord.

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Members of a far-right group arrested in Germany were planning attacks on mosques, politicians and asylums seekers, local media report.

The 12, allegedly belonging to Der harte Kern (The Hard Core), were detained on Friday. Another man believed to be a part of the group is still on the run, according to newspaper Welt am Sonntag.

Germany has seen a rise in support for the far right, especially in the country’s formerly-communist east.

The authorities have stepped up their crack down on the country’s underground far right following the murder of politician Walter Luebcke and an attack on a synagogue in the eastern city of Halle last year.

Four of the men, all German nationals, were arrested last week on suspicion of forming Der harte Kern; the remaining eight are suspected of providing the group with money, weapons and other support.

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