The number of fatal stabbings in London this year has risen to over 50 with four more cases in a single day, but police said today the city was not suffering an epidemic of knife crime.
One of the latest victims to die in four separate incidents in London yesterday was aged 19 - the 20th teenager to have died violently in the capital this year.
Before the latest four slayings, 49 people had died of knife wounds this year in London, a spate of violence that has alarmed politicians and the news media.
Violence in the British capital has become an international issue after the frenzied stabbings of two French students in London last week, an incident police said was one of the grisliest cases they had seen.
Police say tackling knife crime has overtaken terrorism as their number one priority. They have set up a 75-strong team to target those carrying weapons.
"I wouldn't describe it as an epidemic," a police spokesman said after the latest killings.
"There is an issue with knives and that is why we have launched Operation Blunt 2," he added, referring to a six-week campaign in which officers have searched 27,000 people, arrested more than 1,200 and seized 500 knives in London.
Sir Ian Blair, head of London's Metropolitan Police Service, said detectives had made arrests in three of the four latest murders.
"I want to reassure the public that the MPS is doing everything possible both in terms of thoroughly investigating each case and in continuing to carry out proactive operations to get knives off the streets," he said.
Reuters