husband knifed in 'kill a Muslim' train attack

Pic: Muhammed-Askar Ali in hospital
Crime reporter(wp/es):

A wife told today of the horrific moment her husband was stabbed on a train by a man allegedly shouting: “I want to kill a Muslim.”

Kulsuma Ali, who wore a hijab, was sitting beside husband Muhammed-Askar during the attack. She spoke as her family released a photograph of him fighting for his life in a London hospital.

The father-of-three suffered a punctured lung and stab wounds in his head and body from the onslaught on a train at Forest Hillstation.

Mrs Ali, 39, told the Standard a “hero” nursestepped in to help save his life as he bled heavily from multiple knife wounds. His condition in hospital is described as serious.

Speaking from the family home in Wandsworth, Mrs Ali gave her first public account of the attack on Monday just after 1pm.

She told how she saw a man staring and shouting, “I am going to kill a Muslim”, moments before the stabbing took place.

“He was shouting go back to Syria and things like that,” she said.

“It was terrifying. The man lunged forward and stabbed my husband  in the head first and then twice in  the chest and then three times in  the back.

“One wound is near the lung and very dangerous and the doctors are very worried about his sight because he was stabbed near the eye.

“The blade was a big kitchen knife. The man was wandering around with it and showing it but no one had stopped him. How can he not have been stopped before?

“No one came to help us at first. My husband had been stabbed loads of times before anyone moved.

“I was in total shock and was holding him. A lady on the train who was a nurse helped.

“She was amazing. I need to say thank you — she has maybe saved  his life.

“There was blood everywhere. I was in shock and I have not slept since. The scene keeps playing in  my head.”

The couple have three sons, who have not been able to go to school since the shocking event.

The victim is a delivery driver  and family man, who is described  by his wife as a “brilliant father  and husband”.

The couple, who are of Bangladeshi origin, had visited a mosque for prayers earlier in the day before  the stabbing.

They had then gone to pick up some flight tickets and were taking the train home.

A man aged 38 has appeared in court charged with attempted murder, possession of an offensive weapon and assault by battery.