SALMAN RUSHDIE STABBED IN FRENZIED ATTACK ON STAGE

SALMAN Rushdie was stabbed up to 15 times in a horrific attack on a New York stage.

- Chris Bucktin

The author, who has faced death threats for his novel The Satanic Verses, suffered serious neck wounds.

Sir Salman, 75, was knifed by a masked man who was quickly grabbed by security personnel. Witnesses in the lecture hall said they saw Sir Salman fall backwards, bleeding heavily, as blood was splashed across the stage, his chair and a backdrop.

A man in a camouflage top was held at the event in Chautauqua, 75 miles south-west of Buffalo in New York state, after the 20-second attack.

Sir Salman’s agent Andrew Wylie confirmed last night he was undergoing surgery – but did not know his condition.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was “appalled that Sir Salman Rushdie has been stabbed while exercising a right we should never cease to defend.

“Right now my thoughts are with his loved ones. We are all hoping he is okay.”

The crazed attack erupted as the author was about to contribute to a discussion on how the United States is an asylum for writers and other artists in exile, and a home for freedom of creative expression.

Witnesses said a masked man punched and lunged at Salman, inset, from behind.

Rita Landman, who was in the audience, said he had multiple stab wounds including one on the right of his neck and there was a pool of blood under him: “People were saying, ‘He has a pulse, he has a pulse, he has a pulse.’”

Rescuers raised the writer’s legs as he went into shock before he was stretchered to a helicopter.

Fellow witness Ward Pautler said Sir Salman “had just come out and sat down” on stage when he was attacked by an individual described as “heavy set and wearing a black headpiece”.