Police today moved to reassure visitors to London after a masked gang armed with guns, knives and hammers raided an Arab couple’s holiday flat in the capital’s centre.

The terrifying gunpoint raid in which the pair and a friend were robbed of £2,000 in cash, mobile phones, passports and jewellery comes just two weeks after three sisters from the United Arab Emirates were beaten unconscious in a hotel room attack.

The two attacks have raised fears that gangs are targeting wealthy Middle Eastern tourists in London and prompted thousands of people from the UAE to tweet the #London_is_not_safe hashtag on Twitter.

The hashtag has more than 3,500 tweets, with one commenting: “Now No to London & yes to Paris or Rome.”

One of the most widely shared images was a picture of Dubai’s skyline and a hammer with the words: “Dubai’s heat is better than London’s hammer.”

A senior Scotland Yard officer today sought to play down the concerns, while detectives are understood to be investigating the possibility the couple’s flat was mistaken for a vice den.

Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said: “This was obviously frightening for those involved but I wish to reassure visitors that they will be safe in London. We acknowledge the tragic coincidence of two serious violent attacks against residents of UAE in London and the concern these are bound to cause but there is no reason to suggest they are linked.” He said the couple were not targeted because of their nationality.

Victim Ali Al Tamimi, 51, today said he and his wife, 47, had been staying at an apartment in Westbourne Gardens, Paddington, with a friend when their intercom rang at 1am on Tuesday.

He told Dubai TV: “I picked up but no one answered — then we heard a loud sound like an explosion.

“I rushed to check and saw the main door to the apartment wide open and a man holding a knife coming at us. I tried to close a door but he pushed us back. Four or five other men rushed in carrying knives, hammers and guns.

“I managed to evade two stabs and also managed to unmask one of them. His colleague started yelling at him to shoot me because I saw his face.

“Then I heard, “Shoot him, hit him’. But the man hesitated. What saved us was the sound of an ambulance siren.”

A neighbour alerted by screams dialled 999 and police arrived within minutes but the gang, all described as black and wearing masks, had fled.

Four people have been charged over the hammer attack a fortnight ago at the Cumberland Hotel, less than a mile away, in which Khulood Al Najjar, 36, lost her left eye and has been left with just five per cent of brain function.