Dec. 23 (Bloomberg) -- One person died and four others were attacked in stabbings in north London that are probably linked, the U.K. capital's police said in e-mailed statements. A man was arrested in connection with the stabbings.

Police said they were called at 8:20 a.m. local time to the Edmonton Green train station, where a 29-year-old man was stabbed. Between then and 9:27 a.m., four more stabbings were reported between Enfield and Haringey. A 40-year-old man found in Edmonton's Advent Way was pronounced dead at a hospital, and the first victim was in a ``serious'' condition, police said. Sky News said a sixth person also was injured in the attacks.

Violent crime in the U.K. capital, which is home to more than 7.2 million people, rose 37 percent in the year ended March, according to the latest British Crime Survey.

The suspect was described by police as a 30-year-old man of Turkish or Middle Eastern appearance who was using a car. A man was arrested in Haringey in connection with the stabbings, police said, without giving his name or saying whether he matched the description of the suspect.

The other three victims were a man of unspecified age who was knifed in Gladstone Avenue, a 30-year-old woman found with a stab wound in Compton Crescent, and a 30-year-old man with knife injuries found in Ecclesbourne Gardens, near Green Lanes, police said. All of those stabbed were hospitalized.

Two of the people were undergoing surgery, and a third was transferred to a specialist heart unit, Caroline Lord, a spokeswoman at London's Middlesex Hospital, said in an interview with Sky News.

London Mayor Ken Livingstone has added more police officers, bringing the number employed to a record of more than 3,000, in an effort to cut crime. Earlier this month police installed a metal detector at Hammersmith Bus Garage in west London to deter people from carrying knives.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Morales in London at amorales2@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: December 23, 2004 07:52 EST