Salman Rushdie stabbed in neck during event in New York

Salman Rushdie's writings, such as 'The Satanic Verses', have in the past led to death threats, though details of the attack are scarce. The author fell to the floor and suffered a stab wound to the neck. Video footage showed people rushing to rescue Rushdie from the attack.

Author Salman Rushdie was going to deliver a speech when he was stabbed in the neck at an event in New York, US, on Friday. Rushdie was attacked by a guy who stormed the stage, punched, and stabbed him over his controversial writings that led to a fatwa that forced him into hiding. The attacker was arrested by the police right away.

The author fell to the floor and suffered a stab wound to the neck. Video footage showed people rushing to rescue Rushdie from the attack.   A small group of people surrounded the author, holding up his legs, presumably to send more blood to his chest, AP reported. Hundreds of people in the audience gasped at the sight of the attack and were then evacuated. New York State Police posted on Twitter that they are looking into the assault on Rushdie before a speech.

A man suspect went up onto the stage and assaulted Rushdie and an interviewer at around 11 am, according to the police, who provided more information on the event. "Rushdie was flown by helicopter to a local hospital after sustaining what appeared to be a neck knife wound. His state is still unknown. A little head injury was sustained by the interviewer," it added.

Rushdie, 75, received threats in the late 1980s, mainly because of his novel, The Satanic Verses, which has been prohibited in Iran since 1988 due to claims that it is disrespectful to Islam. The supreme leader of Iran also issued a bounty for his assassination, however by 1998 the Iranian government declared it had no intention of carrying out the "fatwa" or order. If the attack is connected to that is unclear.

His first novel came out in 1975, but one of his seminal works is about modern India, Midnight's Children (1981), for which he won the Booker Prize.