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The crazed 29-year-old beat one man unconscious before hacking at his neck in what witnesses feared was an attempt to behead him.

In five terrifying minutes at Leytonstone Tube station in east London, he then attacked a second man in the neck and threatened other passengers, screaming “this is for Syria” and “your blood will be spilled”.

The man was subdued after uniformed officers, who were first on the scene, deployed Tasers and disarmed him.

A former Scotland Yard commander said it was “alarming” that armed police had not been present.

Scotland Yard confirmed the attack was dealt with by local officers, but refused to say whether armed response units had even been dispatched. Just last week, Scotland Yard revealed how it had reviewed training of its armed officers in the wake of the Paris attacks and that it had doubled the number of armed officers on patrol at any one time.

Designed to tackle gun attacks, officers have been told to ignore injured victims and “go forward” to confront the armed terrorist first.

Asked whether he was surprised that an armed patrol did not respond, John O’Connor, the former head of the Flying Squad, said: “Not if they were not available. It certainly would have been an additional security measure. I would not be surprised when you consider the number of or lack of number of armed personnel. It is alarming. We still rely on the first people on the scene having to deal with a situation, whoever they are, whether a uniform officer or firearms officer.”