Dubai/Abu Dhabi: Three UAE women were viciously attacked by a man with a hammer as they slept in a luxury hotel in central London on Sunday.
Kholoud, 36, is in a medically induced coma with swelling on her brain at a London hospital following the attack. Her two companions, Uhoud, 34, and Fatima, 31, were beaten about the head and are believed to be in serious condition.
The three women were staying at the four-star Cumberland Hotel at Marble Arch near Oxford Street when the attack occurred around 2am (5am UAE) on Sunday morning.
Three children and a brother, 16, and a sister 18 of the victims, were sleeping in two adjoining rooms at the time but they were unharmed.
London Metropolitan Police are appealing for anyone who may have seen the lone male attacker in the hotel. Staff at the hotel recovered a bloodied hammer at the scene.
Police suspect the intruder may have been disturbed by the women as he was ransacking a room, or they say he may have targeted them as they shopped on Oxford Street on Saturday. Scotland Yard are treating the case as attempted murder.
The attack occurred on the seventh floor of the Cumberland Hotel and three young children were asleep in adjoining rooms when it happened.
In a statement to Gulf News, DCI Andy Chalmers, of Scotland Yard’s homicide and major crime command, said: “This was an unusually violent attack on three women and I am very keen to speak with anyone who was in or around the hotel between 1am and 2am on Sunday morning.”
A spokesman for the Cumberland Hotel said that the main priority was helping police with their inquiries and doing everything they can now to assist the victims of the attack and their families.
He said that everyone was “shocked” at the attack and nothing like this had ever happed at the hotel before.
A spokesman at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Abu Dhabi said the ministry was following with concern the condition of the citizens and the investigation into the attacks.
“The Ministry has not yet received hospital and police reports of the attacks,” the spokesman told Gulf News.
