Iran Press/ Asia: Police arrested the 24-year-old man, who identified himself as Kyota Hattori, at the scene on suspicion of attempted murder. A male passenger in his 70s was in critical condition after being stabbed in the chest as the train was moving around 8 p.m.
Hattori was quoted by investigators as saying he "wanted to kill people and be given the death penalty," and hoped to do so if he killed two or more people. He also told them he had scattered lighter fluid.
According to the police, Hattori referenced an incident in August on an Odakyu Electric Railway commuter train in Tokyo in which a man stabbed and slashed 10 passengers amid heightened security for the Tokyo Olympics.
The other victims in Sunday's incident ranged in age from their teens to their 60s. In addition to the seriously injured man, 16 people sustained minor injuries including smoke inhalation.
The incident, which caused panic among passengers who scrambled to escape through train windows, took place on a 10-car train bound for Shinjuku, a busy station in central Tokyo, from Hachioji in the west of the capital.
Investigative sources and eyewitnesses said the suspect was brandishing what looked like a kitchen knife and holding a plastic bottle in his other hand as he walked through the train, stabbing other passengers. Hattori then went to the sixth car where he scattered the fluid and burnt a seat. The train then filled with smoke.
The limited express train made an emergency stop at Kokuryo Station in Chofu, western Tokyo, and the fire was put out about 30 minutes later.
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