LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — A 13-year-old boy appeared in a London court on Thursday charged with two counts of attempted murder after two pupils were stabbed at a school in the United Kingdom capital.

The boy, who cannot be identified due to his age, also faces charges of possessing a knife on school premises and spraying insect spray in the face of a third victim.

Dressed in a grey prison-issue tracksuit, the boy simply confirmed his name and his date of birth, as his parents listened intently in the courtroom at Westminster magistrates court.

The defendant, a former pupil at the school, allegedly stabbed the first victim in the spine, hands and neck with a kitchen knife in a classroom attack witnessed by other youngsters, the court heard.

The second boy was allegedly stabbed less than a minute later in the playground, where ant spray was sprayed in the face of a third victim.

The stabbing victims, two boys aged 12 and 13, remained in hospital, London’s Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

Both were described as being in a “stable” condition following Tuesday’s lunchtime attack at Kingsbury High School in northwest London.

Due to circumstances surrounding the incident, the investigation was passed to counter terrorism officers “although at this time, it has not been declared as a terrorist incident”, said senior police officer Helen Flanagan of Counter Terrorism Policing London.

“These are extremely serious charges against a young boy, and we continue to support the victims and their families, as well as the wider school community following this shocking incident,” she said.

Britain, and London in particular, has long grappled with teenage violence and the use of knives, while violence within schools has been growing nationwide, according to unions representing teachers.

An investigation involving counter terrorism officers alongside Met detectives was “ongoing”, Flanagan added.

The 13-year-old was arrested in the local area several hours after the incident.

The boy is being held in custody in a youth detention centre ahead of the next hearing on February 27.