Reported acid attack at London mall causes injuries

Reported acid attack at London mall causes injuries

Police say a group of men sprayed a "noxious substance" at shoppers in London Saturday night, causing as many as six injuries.

The Metropolitan Police said one man was arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm at the Westfield Stratford Shopping Centre in east London.

So far we have treated at least five patients at the scene and taken three patients to hospital," said London Ambulance Service assistant director of operations Paul Gibson. "We remain on the scene." The discrepancy in the number of reported injuries could not immediately be reconciled.

Sky News reported that authorities were not treating the incident as terror-related and there was the possibility that other suspects were at large.

Witnesses said an argument broke out among a group of people prior to the incident.

A man who gave his name as Hossen, an assistant manager at Burger King, said he saw a victim and his friend, a local homeless man, run into the restaurant's bathroom to "wash acid off his face".

"There were cuts around his eyes and he was trying to chuck water into them," the man said.

The shopping center opened in 2011 and is located near the site of the 2012 Summer Olympics.