Site of London stabbing attack
Site of London stabbing attackReuters

Yovel Levkowski, the 18-year-old Israeli woman who was wounded in the Russell Square knife attack on Wednesday night, described on Thursday how she mistakenly tried to help the knifeman and then watched him kill a helpless tourist.

Levkowski was injured when she went to assist the 19-year-old attacker, thinking he was running away from a terror attack.

She then watched on in horror as she realized that the man in her presence was the danger as she saw him stab to death an American tourist in her 60s.

“On the way back to the hotel I heard screaming and saw two men running towards me,” said Levkowski, in comments quoted by The Sun.

“I don't know if it's luck or fate but it's a miracle. The woman who was standing next to me died before my eyes," she added.

“I was afraid it was a terrorist incident, and I was sure that the two men fleeing from the event were victims,” recalled Levkowski.

“I went to help the first one of the men and felt pain in my hand. I thought I just got hit, but it turned out he was stabbing me. The other man chasing him was trying to stop him, and in the end managed to catch him,” she said.

British police said earlier on Thursday that after questioning the 19-year-old attacker, they had found no evidence of terror motives or radicalization.

Assistant commissioner Mark Rowley told reporters the investigation "increasingly points to this tragic incident as having been triggered by mental health issues.”

"We believe this was a spontaneous attack and the victims had been selected at random,” he added, saying police had “found no evidence of radicalization or anything that would suggest the man in our custody was motivated by terrorism."