LONDON: Twelve people were injured when a corrosive substance was sprayed inside a packed London nightclub, police and fire services said, amid a sharp rise in acid attacks in Britain’s capital.
Two of the victims, both men in their twenties, are in a “serious but stable condition” and 10 others suffered “minor injuries,” police said in a statement.
A London Fire Brigade spokesman said an “unknown corrosive substance” was thrown in Mangle, a club in east London, in the early hours of Monday.
It was identified as “an acidic substance” from testing, he said, adding that there were around 600 people in the club at the time.
Police said the incident was not believed to be terrorism or gang related but the result of a dispute between two groups of people in the club.
They said the fight led to “a noxious substance being sprayed by a male suspect directly at Victims 1 and 2” — the two men with the more serious injuries.
“Other people inside the venue suffered the effects of the substance,” the statement said, adding that no arrests have been made and appealing for witnesses.
Police were called to the scene at around 00:10 GMT.
The streets around the club have been closed to traffic as the investigation continues.
London has seen a sharp rise in acid attacks in the city in recent years.
There were more than 1,800 reports of attacks involving corrosive fluids in London since 2010, according to police data cited by the BBC last month.
In 2016, corrosive fluids were used in 454 crimes, compared to 261 in 2015.
Some experts have suggested that criminal gangs may be switching from carrying knives to acid because it could lower the risk of prosecution.
In an acid attack in north London earlier this month, a 40-year-old father, 36-year-old mother and their three-year-old son were hurt.
The woman and child were later discharged from hospital but the man suffered “life-changing injuries,” police said.
Suspected acid attack in London club injures 12
Suspected acid attack in London club injures 12
UN peacekeepers defy South Sudan military’s order to leave opposition-held town
JUBA, South Sudan: The United Nations Mission in South Sudan said Monday that it would not comply with a government order to shut down its base in Akobo, an opposition stronghold near the Ethiopian border where tens of thousands of refugees have fled.
On Friday, the South Sudanese army ordered UN peacekeepers as well as NGOs and civilians to vacate the town ahead of a planned assault.
But the mission refused to leave and said it would provide “a protective presence for civilians” in the town, adding that the safety and security of its personnel “must be fully respected at all times.”
The UN Mission said it was engaging “intensively with national, state and local stakeholders” regarding this order. “Any military operations in and around Akobo gravely endanger the safety and security of civilians,” said mission chief Anita Kiki Gbeho.
The South Sudanese government has been fighting opposition forces since a 2018 peace deal broke down about a year ago.
A dramatic escalation took place in December 2025, when opposition forces seized several government outposts in northern Jonglei. A government counter-offensive repelled their forces a month later and displaced over 280,000 people. Tens of thousands have sought refuge in Akobo, where a small contingent of UN peacekeepers is stationed.
Fearing the looming government assault on Akobo, humanitarian workers were evacuated over the weekend, and a mass exodus of the population has also begun.
Local officials contacted by the The Associated Press said fleeing civilians faced danger and widespread shortages of essential supplies. Dual Diew, the Akobo County health director, who has fled to Ethiopia, said there were 84 wounded patients at the hospital. “We have most of them with us here now,” he said, adding that they lack medicine and basic nursing equipment.
Christophe Garnier, the leader of Doctors Without Borders in South Sudan said the organization had to evacuate its staff from Akobo on Saturday and learned of the subsequent looting of its hospital and the ransacking of its office.
“People in Akobo must now either flee without protection or remain at risk of being killed, while losing access to health care and other essential services,” he said.
The three Western governments that have played a major role in the peace process — the U.S, UK, and Norway — sent a letter to President Kiir on Monday urging that the army’s evacuation order be revoked and warning of “further deaths, displacement and suffering for the South Sudanese people” if the offensive on Akobo is implemented.
