British police are looking for a man who injured several people by throwing a corrosive chemical on them, with political attention focusing on his status as someone who had been granted asylum after a conviction for sexual assault.
Key points:
- Police said the attack appeared to be targeted as the assailant was believed to be someone known to the victims
- The suspect fled on foot after he crashed into a stationary vehicle in his attempt to drive away from the scene
- The woman and the three-year-old girl suffered potentially life-changing injuries
London's Metropolitan Police said they were looking for the man, who they identified as 35-year-old Abdul Shokoor Ezedi, after he pushed a three-year-old girl to the ground and threw an alkaline substance at her, her eight-year-old sister and the girls' 31-year-old mother near Clapham Common, a residential area in south London, on Wednesday evening.
The victims were receiving treatment at a hospital on Thursday (local time), police said, with the mother and the three-year-old girl suffering potentially life-changing injuries.
Three other women and one man who came to their aid suffered minor burns injuries, and five police officers who responded were also injured.
One witness, Shannon Christi, said she helped pull the three-year-old victim away from the scene after she saw a man throw the child on the ground.
She also said she saw the mother saying, "I can't see."
"My skin started tingling as well, and my face started tingling," Ms Christi said.
"It all happened so fast."
Police said Mr Ezedi fled on foot after he crashed into a stationary vehicle in his attempt to drive away from the scene.
His last confirmed sighting was at a supermarket on a busy thoroughfare of north London, where is he is believed to have purchased a bottle of water.
Police released a photo of him taken at the supermarket after the attack, showing "significant injuries to the right side of his face".
They said the injuries made him "distinctive" but warned the public not to approach him and call police if he is sighted.
Police said Mr Ezedi was believed to be someone known to the victims, but they did not elaborate.
"While this appears to be a targeted attack, he is a dangerous individual and we urgently need to find him," superintendent Gabriel Cameron said.
Britain's interior minister James Cleverly said in a statement on Friday: "Wednesday's attack on a mother and her two children in Clapham was appalling.
"My thoughts are with them and the brave members of the public and police who intervened," he said, adding it would be inappropriate to comment further while an investigation was ongoing.
A source familiar with the case told the Reuters news agency that Mr Ezedi had been granted asylum in Britain and had a previous conviction for sexual assault. Police declined to comment further. The BBC said Mr Ezedi was originally from Afghanistan and had arrived in 2016.
The arrival of asylum seekers is the focus of a heated political debate in Britain on how to control illegal migration. UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has made tackling the issue a key pledge ahead of an election expected later this year.
Some politicians in Mr Sunak's Conservative Party said the case underscored the need for the government's plan to send refugees to Rwanda, which is currently being blocked by the courts.
David Johnston, the children's minister, said, "It's vital that we end the asylum merry-go-round," while former immigration minister Robert Jenrick urged the government to conduct a "detailed review" of how Mr Ezedi was allowed to remain in Britain.
Metropolitan Police chief Mark Rowley called the incident "ghastly" but added that attacks involving acids and chemicals were "exceedingly rare" in the UK capital.
ABC/Wires