British MP stabbed by veiled woman (Updated)

Impromptu "surgery" on Labour MP Stephen Timms at a surgery – a meeting with constituents – when an obviously disgruntled woman stabbed him in the abdomen twice. AP reports that "neither Timms nor his staff recognized" the woman.

Bystander Sagal Ahmed describes the scene:

I heard a big commotion, everyone was screaming. There was a women wearing Muslim clothing, an orange headscarf and a black veil. A security guard grabbed her from behind.

There was a mother with her baby screaming, everyone was in shock. I think it was a vendetta, who would go into a library with a knife?

Gee, I certainly hope it was a female security guard that grabbed the unrecognizable woman hiding behind a black veil: if she has been touched by a strange male her family's going to have to kill her.

Update: The British mainstream media is acknowledging that Timm's attacker wore "Muslim dress" but does not yet identify her as Muslim, at the same time noting condolences from a Muslim group:

Shahid Mursaleen, spokesman for the Newham-based moderate Muslim organisation Minhaj-ul-Quran UK, said: "We are shocked and saddened to hear that Stephen Timms MP has been stabbed.

"Mr Timms has always been close to his constituency and a friend of Muslims living in east London. He has been a good friend of Minhaj-ul-Quran.

"We wish him well and his recovery to be soon and hope that he can resume his position as MP of East Ham soon."

India's NDTV has no qualms about specifying the attacker's relgious affiliation:

Former British minister and senior Labour MP Stephen Timms escaped death narrowly after being attacked by a knife-wielding Muslim woman, a resident of his constituency.

The BBC notes neither the attacker's dress nor her possible religious affiliation, however.