A Metropolitan Police officer is “not a million miles away” from loosing her arm after she was injured during a sword attack in north-east London.

A 14-year-old boy died in Tuesday’s attack in Hainault, and four others, including two police officers, were injured.

On Wednesday Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said the female officer suffered “horrifically serious” arm wounds.

A male officer’s hand was also seriously injured, he added.

A 36-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder and is in hospital.

The Met Police said the man was injured and due to his condition, he has not yet been interviewed.

Sir Mark told LBC: “We were on the ground in 12 minutes, and he was detained after 22 minutes. Obviously some of the first contacts led to officers being very severely injured.”

He said the female officer was in surgery for several hours after suffering “horrifically serious” wounds to her arm.

“People say officers run towards danger. You’ve got officers running towards someone who’s waving a sword,” Sir Mark added.

On Wednesday, a “van load” of officers arrived at the scene, with at least 20 officers seen at the site by a BBC London reporter by 07:30 BST.

Their hi-vis jackets were “as far as they eye could see”, as officers spoke to people and worked to gather evidence.

A police cordon remained in place with officers stationed on New North Road, close to Hainault Underground Station.

Two buses that were stopped at the scene on Tuesday remain on New North Road as they cannot be removed from the cordon, while residents need to give their names to a police officer before being able to cross.

A man carrying a bag of toilet roll and a woman walking her child to school have seen their names jotted down on a piece of paper.

A former police sergeant in Hainault told the BBC the neighbourhood was a quiet, residential area that would not expect to see an attack such as the one on Tuesday.

Police say they do not believe the attack was terror-related and that it was not a “targeted” attack.

They were called to reports of a car crashing into a house and people being stabbed at about 07:00 BST on Tuesday.

The suspect was then seen leaping over people’s garden fences and walking around with a sword. He was eventually cornered and Tasered in a front garden.

The 14-year-old boy died from stab wounds shortly after being taken to hospital. His identity has not been released and his family are being supported by specially trained police staff.

Two other members of the public remain in hospital but their conditions are not considered to be life-threatening, police say.

Two police officers have “significant but not life-threatening” injuries and will require surgery, the Met confirmed.

Police said they were not looking for any more suspects.

In response to speculation about the man’s background including police contact with him, the force said police checks had found no trace of a prior incident involving the man.

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