Man charged with attempted murder in stabbing of 11-year-old girl in a London tourism hot spot

LONDON (AP) — A man accused of stabbing an 11-year-old girl in London’s bustling theater district was charged Tuesday with attempted murder.

Ioan Pintaru put the girl in a headlock and stabbed her eight times, seriously wounding her, prosecutors said.

The girl was hospitalized and required surgery for wounds to her face, shoulder, wrist and neck area, prosecutor David Burns said.

Authorities haven't offered a motive for the attack, but police said there was no suggestion the stabbing was terror-related and they don’t believe the suspect knew the mother or daughter.

Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs said Thursday that officials were supporting two Australians injured in London. No further details would be supplied for privacy reasons, the statement said.

The attack happened around 11:30 a.m. Monday in Leicester Square, a tourism hot spot, outside a shop selling tea.

An employee of the tea shop and other bystanders jumped on the suspect and held him to the ground until police arrived. A steak knife was recovered.

“Fortunately members of the public intervened, which prevented any further injury being made to the child," Burns said.

The girl’s mother wasn't wounded, though she initially appeared to be because she was covered in her daughter’s blood, police said.

Pintaru, 32, a Romanian citizen, who also faces a knife charge, was held in custody. He was ordered to appear on Sept. 10 at the Central Criminal Court known as the Old Bailey.

The stabbing occurred during a recent rise in knife crime in Britain, which is on edge after days of violence as crowds spouting anti-immigrant and Islamophobic slogans clashed with police in dozens of cities and towns.

The disturbances were fueled by far-right activists, who used social media to spread misinformation about a mass stabbing that killed three girls during a Taylor Swift-themed dance event.

Associated Press writer Charlotte Graham-McLay contributed from Wellington, New Zealand.

Discarded clothing and emergency medical equipment is seen inside the TWG Tea shop in Leicester Square, London, as a man has been arrested after an 11-year-old girl and 34-year-old woman were stabbed, in London, Monday, Aug. 12, 2024. (James Manning/PA via AP)

Discarded clothing and emergency medical equipment is seen inside the TWG Tea shop in Leicester Square, London, as a man has been arrested after an 11-year-old girl and 34-year-old woman were stabbed, in London, Monday, Aug. 12, 2024. (James Manning/PA via AP)

Police cordon off an area in Leicester Square, as a man was arrested with the accusation of stabbing an 11-year-old girl and 34-year-old woman, in London, Monday Aug. 12, 2024. (James Manning/PA via AP)

Blood is seen on the pavement as a man has been arrested after an 11-year-old girl and 34-year-old woman were stabbed in Leicester Square, in London, Monday Aug. 12, 2024. (James Manning/PA via AP)

Man charged with attempted murder in stabbing of 11-year-old girl in a London tourism hot spot

A Police officer stands at the scene in Leicester Square, as a man was arrested with the accusation of stabbing an 11-year-old girl and 34-year-old woman, in London, Monday Aug. 12, 2024. (James Manning/PA via AP)

Man charged with attempted murder in stabbing of 11-year-old girl in a London tourism hot spot

Israeli strikes in the southern Gaza Strip killed at least 15 people overnight, including six children and two women, Palestinian medical officials said Tuesday. In northern Gaza, where Israel has been waging an air and ground campaign in Jabaliya for more than a week, residents said families were still trapped in their homes and shelters.

It’s been more than a year since Hamas-led militants blew holes in Israel’s security fence and stormed in, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250. They are still holding about 100 people captive inside Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead.

Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed over 42,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, who do not say how many were fighters but say women and children make up more than half of the fatalities. The war has destroyed large areas of Gaza and displaced about 90% of its population of 2.3 million people.

In solidarity with Hamas, Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has exchanged cross-border fire with Israel almost daily for the past year. Israel escalated its campaign against the group in recent weeks.

Rumors circulated for weeks over head of the expeditionary arm of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard Gen. Esmail Qaani’s status after an Israeli airstrike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut in late September. But Qaani, the head of the Quds Force, was seen in a black bomber jacket, wiping away tears at an event early Tuesday morning at Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport.

Here's the latest:

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The funeral of an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general killed alongside Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah drew the largest crowd of top leaders in the paramilitary organization together Tuesday for the first time since Tehran launched a ballistic missile attack on Israel.

The Guard’s leadership hasn’t been as visible in the two weeks since Iran’s Oct. 1 attack on Israel. The Guard is the main power behind Iran’s theocracy and oversees its arsenal of ballistic missiles — which would be crucial in any future attack on Israel.

At the funeral in Tehran for Gen. Abbas Nilforushan, the Guard’s chief commander, Gen. Hossein Salami, attended alongside President Masoud Pezeshkian and the head of the country’s judiciary. Other Guard generals also attended, including Gen. Esmail Qaani of the Guard’s expeditionary Quds Force, about whom rumors had circulated for days regarding his status after the strike that killed Nasrallah.

At least two prominent Guard generals were not on hand: Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the commander of Guard’s aerospace division that oversees its missile program, and Gen. Ali Reza Tangsiri, commander of the Guard’s navy, did not attend.

Iran offered no explanation for their absence, though Israel has threatened to carry out a serious retaliatory strike against Iran.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli strikes in the southern Gaza Strip killed at least 15 people overnight, including six children and two women, Palestinian medical officials said Tuesday.

A strike early Tuesday hit a house in the southern town of Beni Suhaila, killing at least 10 people from one extended family, according to Nasser Hospital in nearby Khan Younis. The dead include three children and one woman, according to hospital records. An Associated Press camera operator at the hospital counted the bodies.

In the nearby town of Fakhari, a strike hit a house early Tuesday, killing five people, including three children and a woman, according to the European Hospital, where the casualties were taken.

The Israeli military rarely comments on individual strikes. It says it tries to avoid harming civilians and blames their deaths on Hamas, accusing the militants of sheltering in civilian areas.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — In northern Gaza, where Israel has been waging an air and ground campaign in Jabaliya for more than a week, residents said families were still trapped in their homes and shelters Tuesday.

Adel al-Deqes said his relatives tried to move to another place in Jabaliya in the morning, but the military shelled them.

“We don’t know who died and who is still alive,” he said.

Ahmed Awda, another Jabaliya resident, said they heard “constant bombing and gunfire” overnight and Tuesday morning. He said the military destroyed many buildings in the eastern and northern parts of the camp, which dates back to the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation.

“They bombed many buildings; some of them empty buildings,” he said.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The head of the expeditionary arm of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has appeared in television footage aired Tuesday by Iranian state television.

Rumors circulated for weeks over Gen. Esmail Qaani’s status in the time since an Israeli airstrike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut in late September. But Qaani, the head of the Quds Force, was seen in a black bomber jacket, wiping away tears at an event early Tuesday morning at Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport.

While Iranian state television did not acknowledge the rumors, it made a point to film Qaani for over a minute and later share the footage from the airport ceremony online.

Qaani was on hand for the repatriation to Iran of the body of Revolutionary Guard Gen. Abbas Nilforushan, 58, who was killed in the airstrike.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Australia’s government has imposed targeted financial sanctions and travel bans on five Iranians contributing to the country’s missile defense program, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Tuesday.

Iran’s launch of at least 180 ballistic missiles against Israel on Oct. 1 was “a dangerous escalation that increased the risk of a wider regional war,” Wong said in a statement.

The fresh sanctions target two directors and a senior official in Iran’s Aerospace Industries Organization, the director of the Shahid Bagheri Industrial Group, and the commercial director of the Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group.

The decision brings to 200 the number of Iran-linked individuals and entities now sanctioned by Australia.

“Australia will continue to hold Iran to account for its reckless and destabilizing actions,” Wong said.

People chant slogans during the funeral ceremony of the late Iranian Revolutionary Guard Gen. Abbas Nilforushan, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut in late September, in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

People and officials attend the funeral ceremony of the late Iranian Revolutionary Guard Gen. Abbas Nilforushan, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut in late September, in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Commander of the Iran's Revolutionary Guard Quds Force, Gen. Esmail Qaani, mourns during the funeral ceremony of the late Revolutionary Guard Gen. Abbas Nilforushan, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut in late September, in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Mourners carry the coffin of Iranian Revolutionary Guards' deputy commander Brigadier Gen. Abbas Nilforushan who died alongside Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut last month during his funeral in Karbala, Iraq, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Anmar Khalil)

Palestinians look at the damage after an Israeli strike hit a tent area in the courtyard of Al Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Pro-Israel protesters holds Israeli flags as demonstrators protest Israel's war against Hamas outside the New York Stock Exchange, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

A displaced family fleeing the Israeli airstrikes in the south, sits next to their tent on Beirut's corniche, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Families fleeing the Israeli airstrikes in the south, sit in front of the Mohammad al-Amin Mosque in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Mourners carry a picture of slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah during the funeral procession of their relatives, in Maisara near the northern coastal town of Byblos, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Palestinians look at the damage after an Israeli strike hit a tent area in the courtyard of Al Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Middle East latest: Israeli strikes on southern Gaza kill at least 15 people overnight

Middle East latest: Israeli strikes on southern Gaza kill at least 15 people overnight