Man with knife injures 17 people on Tokyo train, starts fire

The attack was the second involving a knife on a Tokyo train in three months.

A man dressed in a Joker costume and brandishing a knife stabbed at least one passenger on a Tokyo commuter train before starting a fire, injuring passengers and sending people scrambling to escape and jumping from windows, police and witnesses said.

The Tokyo Fire Department said 17 passengers were injured, including three seriously. Not all of them were stabbed and most of the other injuries were not serious, the fire department said.

The attacker, whom police identified as 24-year-old Kyota Hattori, was arrested on the spot after the attack on October 31 and was being investigated on suspicion of attempted murder, the Tokyo metropolitan police department said November 1.