Surge in knife crime pushes London's murder rate beyond New York's

London police have investigated moremurders than their New York counterparts over the past twomonths, statistics show, and the British capital's mayor is vowingtofight what he calls a "violent scourge" on the streets.

There were 15 murders in London in February, against 14 inNew York, according to London's Metropolitan Police Service andthe New York Police Department. For March, 22 murders wereinvestigated in London, with 21 reports in New York.

In the latest bloodshed, a 17-year-old girl died on Mondayafter she was found with gunshot wounds in Tottenham, north London, a day after a man was fatally stabbed in south London.

"The mayor is deeply concerned by violent crime in thecapital every life lost to violent crime is a tragedy," a spokesperson for Mayor Sadiq Khan said in a statement on Tuesday."Our city remains one of the safest in the world butSadiq wants it to be even safer and is working hard to bring an end to this violent scourge."

Including January's figures, New York had still experiencedmore murders so far this year than London. The cities have asimilar-sized population.

Gun violence is much less of a problem in Britain, which hasstricter gun control laws and where most British police are not equipped with firearms.

But British politicians and police are increasinglyexpressing concern about London's rising murder rate, which is driven by a surge in knife crime. Of the 47 murders in London sofar this year, 31 have been committed with knives.

'Deadly cycle of violence'

Britain's interior ministry said it was consulting on newlaws to further restrict dangerous weapons, including banning online stores from delivering knives to residential addressesand making it an offence to possess certain weapons in public.

"This government is taking action to restrict access tooffensive weapons as well as working to break the deadly cycle of violence and protect our children, families and communities,"a Home Office spokesperson said.

Khan, who has been in office since May 2016, is from theopposition Labour Party. Before him, Conservative Boris Johnsonwas mayor for eight years. The national government has been runby the Conservatives since 2010, with Prime Minister Theresa Maypreviously serving as interior minister from 2010 to 2016.

Britain's most senior officer, London police chief CressidaDick, said gangs were using online platforms to glamourize violence, adding that disputes between young people couldescalate within minutes on social media.

The Ben Kinsella Trust, an anti-knife crime charity namedafter a young victim, said social media amplified a range of other factors that have contributed to the crisis.

The charity's CEO Patrick Green said there had been extrafunding to tackle knife crime, which he welcomed, but added thatthe government needed to act with more urgency and that budgetcuts affecting youth services had played a part.

"This has been a horrendous year. It's looking like it'll beworse that last year, which was worse than the year before," hetold Reuters.

"The response so far has been too slow... It feels likewe're in a crisis and we need to respond in that way."