Detectives have launched a murder investigation after a man was stabbed to death in east London amid a wave of violence in the capital.

The victim, believed to have been in his 20s, was attacked near Ilford station on Tuesday evening and died at the scene.

He is the fifth person to be stabbed to death in London in the past nine days after a series of non-fatal knife attacks across the capital on Tuesday.

Zamirullah Stanikzai, 21, who works in a phone shop close to where the incident took place, said he saw two men brandishing knives. “I saw people running up and down the station when I went out,” he said.

Mike Gapes, the MP for Ilford South, tweeted that he was “shocked and saddened” by the killing.

Shocked and saddened to hear of fatal stabbing of a young man in Cranbrook Road, near Ilford Station around 8.45 this evening. Any witnesses or anyone with information is urged to call police on 101, quoting ref 7377/feb26.

To remain anonymous, call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 — Mike Gapes (@MikeGapes) February 26, 2019

The Metropolitan police said a murder inquiry had begun but no arrests had been made.

Earlier on Tuesday, a 25-year-old man was critically injured in a stabbing in Enfield, north London.

Police were called to Green Street at 12.40am and the man was taken to hospital for treatment, while three men – aged 24, 26 and 27 – were arrested at the scene on suspicion of attempted murder.

Officers responded to another incident in Enfield on Tuesday afternoon in which a man in his 30s was stabbed in the thigh after an “altercation” on Parsonage Road at about 1.50pm.

He was later discharged from hospital, while another man arrested at the scene on suspicion of grievous bodily harm was taken into custody.

Hours later, a teenager sustained non-life-threatening injuries after being stabbed at South Ruislip tube station in west London. Another teenager was later stabbed in Romford.

The fatal stabbing in Ilford on Tuesday night was the fifth homicide in London in nine days.

On 18 February, Bright Akinleye, 22, died in the lobby of a luxury hotel in Euston Street in Camden, central London, after being stabbed outside. Glendon Spence, 23, died after being stabbed at a youth club in Brixton, south London, on 21 February.

The following day a 19-year-old man was stabbed to death in Wood Green, north London, while on 25 February a man was fatally stabbed in a fight in Tower Hamlets, east London.