Seiichiro Takeuchi / The Yomiuri Shimbun
Police officers cordon off the scene of a smoke grenade and knife attack in Taipei on Friday.
22:23 JST, December 19, 2025
TAIPEI (AP) — At least nine people were injured in an indiscriminate smoke grenade and knife attack in Taiwan’s capital on Friday, and the suspect was very likely to have jumped from a building fearing arrest, Taipei’s mayor said.
The suspect threw smoke grenades at the Taipei Main subway station near the city’s main train station, sending some other pedestrians running, according to the local media reports.
The suspect then rode the subway one stop, exited the station and threw more smoke grenades on the street, according to footage carried by broadcaster EBC. He was holding a knife and wielding it toward pedestrians before running into a shop, causing others to scream, the video showed.
Mayor Chiang Wan-an said four of the injured people were seriously hurt.
Taiwanese Premier Cho Jung-ta said that one of the injured persons was a pedestrian who fell to the ground after being attacked, and that person was already suffering cardiac arrest before being sent to a hospital. The smoke caused respiratory injuries to another person.
Cho said that authorities were still investigating the background of the suspect, who wore a mask earlier. They have requested police to increase security in train and subway stations across the island.
Police have yet to make any public statements about the attack.
