「腐食性物質」で子ども含む家族３人襲撃　容疑者逃走　英ロンドン

【ロンドンＡＦＰ＝時事】英ロンドン南部クラパムの住宅街で１月３１日、女性とその子ども２人が腐食性物質で襲撃された。警察は逃走した容疑者の男の行方を追っている。（写真は資料写真）
　被害に遭ったのは３１歳の女性と８歳と３歳の娘。助けに入った女性３人も軽いやけどを負い、全員病院へ搬送された。同じく駆け付けた男性１人も負傷したが、病院での治療は断ったと本人が語った。また現場に急行した警官５人も軽傷を負った。
　警察は被害女性の知人であるアブドゥル・エゼディ容疑者（３５）の行方を追っている。「顔の右側に大きな傷がある」とする情報を公開し、市民に警戒を呼び掛けた。
　英国では酸を含む腐食性物質による襲撃事件は、２０１７年に記録された９４１件をピークに減少していた。だが、酸による暴力の根絶と被害者支援に取り組む国際団体「アシッド・サバイバー・トラスト・インターナショナル（ＡＳＴＩ）」によると、２０２２年から再び急増している。
　警察の統計によると、イングランドとウェールズ地方では２０２１年には計４２１件だった報告が、２２年には少なくとも７１０件と前年比約７０％増となっている。
　この数字はＡＳＴＩが情報公開請求によって入手したデータのみのため、実際には「はるかに多い」可能性があるという。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/02/02-17:08）

UK police were on Thursday hunting a suspect who attacked a woman and her two young daughters with a corrosive substance on a south London residential street.
Britain has battled back against attacks involving corrosive substances such as acid and saw incidents decline until a resurgence in 2022.
The 31-year-old woman and her children aged eight and three were taken to hospital along with three members of the public who went to their aid.
Five officers who responded to the incident in Clapham on Wednesday night also suffered minor injuries.
Police named the suspect as 35-year-old Abdul Ezedi, believed to be from the Newcastle area in northeastern England and urged the public not to approach him.
They said he was thought to have significant injuries to the right side of his face, without elaborating.
He had last been spotted in the north London area, Superintendent Gabriel Cameron told reporters Thursday at the scene of the attack.
Cameron said the woman and the younger child had suffered potentially life-changing injuries, adding that it could be some time before hospital staff could say how serious they were.
He paid tribute to four members of the public who bravely came to the aid of the family in a terrifying scenario.
Three women who helped had been discharged from hospital with minor burns. A man who also responded was injured but declined hospital treatment, he said.
Cameron said the attacker and the woman are believed to know each other. This appears to be a targeted attack, he added.
Attacks involving corrosive substances including acid had been declining following a peak of 941 cases recorded in 2017.
But cases spiked again in 2022, according to the charity Acid Survivors Trust International (ASTI).
Police force data showed crimes involving the use of the substances increased by 69 percent across England and Wales in 2022, with at least 710 attacks compared to 421 in 2021.
The figures were obtained through freedom of information requests by the Trust which warned that the true number of attacks was likely to be far higher as not all police forces responded.
The previous decline in cases had been partly attributed to the introduction of stricter controls on the availability of acid and other corrosive substances under the 2019 Offensive Weapons Act.