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At least four people have died in a rare mass stabbing incident in central Taipei after an attacker used smoke grenades to cause chaos as he went on a violent rampage through Taiwan’s capital. Several people were also injured.
The suspected assailant is among the dead after he fell from a building during a police chase through a busy shopping district on Friday evening.
One of the victims was killed as they tried to stop the attack inside Taipei’s Main station, according to the city’s mayor, Chiang Wan-an.
The suspected attacker has been described as a 27-year-old man from Taoyuan, a northern county in Taiwan. He was reportedly an air force volunteer soldier who had served near Taipei’s Songshan airport in a radio communication team but was discharged in 2022.
Taiwan’s premier, Cho Jung-tai, told reporters that the suspected attacker had a prior criminal record and outstanding warrants. Local media reported he was wanted by the local prosecutor’s office for obstructing military service in 2024 due to his failure to report on duty.
Cho described the incident as a “deliberate attack”, although by late Friday night the motive remained unknown.
Taiwan’s president, Lai Ching-te, said in a statement there would be heightened security across the country and that there would be “no leniency”.
The attack started at Taipei Main station on Friday afternoon. The attacker allegedly threw smoke grenades inside the station at the peak of rush hour, before making his way to nearby Zhongshan.
One video filmed by a bystander showed the young man in the middle of the main road outside Zhongshan subway station, a popular late-night and shopping district. He was wearing a black T-shirt and shorts, sneakers, a mask and some protective equipment.
He appeared to have other weapons including at least one other knife strapped to his chest.
The video shows him pulling smoke grenades from a bag on the ground and casually throwing them towards crowds gathered on the sidewalk, keeping their distance. He is then seen running across the road and into a shopping mall, randomly slashing at people with a long knife as he runs.
Another clip shows him inside what appears to be Taipei Main station, pulling smoke grenades from a wheeled suitcase and calmly throwing them. Other clips show one of the underground stations filled with smoke, and people being evacuated out of buildings.
“The scene was terrifying and smelled awful,” said one resident, who posted videos to social media.
Two men who were working in a nearby fast food chain told local media they had heard screaming from outside and could smell the smoke. One said people had started running into the restaurant asking if they could hide inside, adding that they all took shelter behind the cashier.
Violent crime is relatively rare in Taiwan, but in the past couple of years a number of stabbing attacks on the metro have raised fears. Some trains now carry instructional videos on how people can disarm attackers with umbrellas and fire extinguishers.
In 2014, a college student killed four people and injured more than 20 in a stabbing spree on the Taipei metro. The student was executed for the killings in 2016. Last year, on the 10-year anniversary of the 2014 incident, three people were injured in a mass stabbing incident in Taichung, Taiwan’s second-largest city.
Photos published by local media revealed a burned-out bag full of what appeared to be unused molotov cocktails. The smoke grenades pictured are replica US military equipment and advertised for sale online in Taiwan, but did not appear to be available on the website when the Guardian checked after the attack. An affiliated store on a separate shopping platform was taken down on Friday night.
One prominent seller of the equipment told the Guardian they had checked their sales records after the incident and were not aware of any high volume or unusual sales that suggested the attacker had bought the grenades from them. They said the items were “intended for lawful uses such as outdoor activities, training or signalling, and not for violent purposes”.
Additional research by Lillian Yang
