A knife-wielding attacker has killed at least three people at metro stations in Taipei, with authorities saying the suspect also died after trying to flee police.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Taiwan’s Premier Cho Jung-tai said the attacks at Taipei Main Station and Zhongshan station were “a deliberate act”, although the motive was not immediately clear.<\/p>\n
The suspect was identified as \u00a027-year-old Chang Wen.<\/p>\n
Mr Cho said in a statement that the suspect wore a mask and threw “five or six\u00a0gasoline bombs or smoke grenades” at Taipei Main Station.<\/p>\n
According to the Taipei City Fire Department, a total of four people were confirmed dead including the suspect, and five others were injured.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
People were evacuated from the area in downtown Taipei after the incident.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 (Reuters: Ann Wang)<\/p>\n
The city’s mayor said the suspect had apparently jumped off a building and that one of the victims was killed while trying to stop the attack at the Main Station.<\/p>\n
“Unfortunately, he was attacked and passed away \u2026 we are all deeply saddened,” Mayor Chiang Wan-an told reporters.<\/p>\n
“Currently, we understand that the suspect committed suicide by jumping from a building to evade arrest and has been confirmed dead,” he said.<\/p>\n
If you or anyone you know needs help:Police \u2014 000 (Triple Zero)Lifeline<\/a> on 13 11 14Kids Helpline<\/a> on 1800 551 800Suicide Call Back Service<\/a> on 1300 659 467Beyond Blue<\/a> on 1300 224 636<\/p>\n He earlier said three people suffered cardiac arrest as a result of the attacks, and several people had “injuries from stab wounds and blunt force trauma to various parts of their bodies”.<\/p>\n Authorities said they were ramping up security across the island in response to the attacks.<\/p>\n “All important locations \u2026 including railway stations, highways, subway stations and airports are maintaining a high level of alert and vigilance,” Mr Cho said.<\/p>\n Police stood guard near Zhongshan station following the attack. (Reuters: Ann Wang)<\/p>\n Images released by Taiwan’s Central News Agency show a canister on the ground at the Main Station, with officers examining potential evidence at the scene.<\/p>\n A video posted on social media shows a thick cloud of white smoke covering an underground section of a metro station, with some people standing at a distance.\u00a0<\/p>\n President Lai Ching-te said Taiwanese authorities would “quickly clarify the details of the case”.<\/p>\n He added: “There will be no leniency and we will do everything in our power to ensure the safety of our citizens.”<\/p>\n Violent crime is rare Taiwan, though an attack in 2014 horrified the normally peaceful island when a man went on a stabbing spree on Taipei’s metro, killing four people.<\/p>\n He was executed for the killings in 2016.\u00a0<\/p>\n AFP\/AP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A knife-wielding attacker has killed at least three people at metro stations in Taipei, with authorities saying the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":358644,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,27777,23073,196000,11069,196001,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-358643","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-stabbing","11":"tag-taipei","12":"tag-taipei-stabbing","13":"tag-taiwan","14":"tag-taiwan-metro-attack","15":"tag-top-news","16":"tag-top-stories","17":"tag-topnews","18":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358643\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/358644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n