Police officer stabbed day after girl decapitated in Taiwan

TAIPEI, Taiwan — A transit police officer has been stabbed in the head a day after a young girl was decapitated in apparently random knife attacks in Taiwan’s capital.

The officer stabbed Tuesday at the Xinbeitou subway station in northern Taipei has serious injuries in the head and neck.

The slain girl was grabbed from behind by an assailant as she waited with her mother outside another subway station in the capital.

READ: Taiwan toddler beheaded in random killing

Suspects are being held in both attacks but no motives have been disclosed.

Mourners who gathered Tuesday at the site of the girl’s murder prayed and left cards, candles and stuffed toys. Commentators debated possible reasons behind the attack and whether the normally placid island republic of 23 million people was becoming less safe.