Two police officers in London were held up after facing the sword suspect

Two London police officers remained hospitalised on Wednesday, a day after they suffered injuries “severely as they rushed to stop a sword attacker on a suburb road, the city police chief said, the AP reports.

Details about the attack, in which a teenager was killed, appeared one day before voters in London went to the ballot boxes to elect the mayor and members of the local council, following a campaign where crime and confidence in the strength of the capital's police were key issues.

Commissioner Mark Rowley, who heads the Metropolitan Police Service, applauded his officers running into danger as they responded to the northeastern suburb of London Hainaul early Tuesday. Daniel Anjer, 14, was killed in the attack and four people were injured, including two policemen.

Rowley told LBC Radio that the two officers suffered serious arm injuries and hands as they confronted the suspect. A female officer faces a long journey of recovery “after surgeons spent hours “essentially uniting her arm”, he said.

Police placed a 36-year-old man on the scene and arrested him under suspicion of murder. Police have given no information about what led to the incident in question, though stressed that it does not appear to be a terrorist act.

Police said the rage began when the suspect slammed his van into a building and attacked a 33-year-old man, wounding him in the neck. The suspect has later entered a nearby property, where a 35-year-old had been cut in the arm.

Police arrived at the scene 12 minutes after receiving the first call and the suspect was detained 10 minutes later, Rowley said.