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Twenty people have been arrested in connection with the fatal stabbing of a 15-year-old boy at Victoria Station during the evening rush hour. The boy was attacked at about 1720 GMT on Thursday. Paramedics were unable to resuscitate him after he suffered a cardiac arrest at the scene.

A commuter said a "screaming" row had broken out between 10 to 15 teenagers inside the station before the stabbing.

British Transport Police said they were "stepping up" patrols at the station.

A police spokesman said: "BTP and Metropolitan Police officers attended the incident, which occurred around 5.20pm in the District and Circle line booking office. A 15-year-old boy was taken to hospital by the London Ambulance Service where he later died. His family have been informed and a specially-trained BTP officer is with them at this time.

"Twenty arrests were made in connection with the incident and detectives are appealing for anyone with information to contact them."

Commuter John Angeli, 47, from Haywards Heath, West Sussex, said he saw police "struggling" to keep a "tense" row between a group of teenagers under control.

"There was a big kerfuffle with about 10 or 15 kids all screaming. They were all in uniform, aged about 15 or 16. There were about two or three British Transport Police officers all struggling to keep things under control. I only watched it all for a couple of minutes but I saw the police call for back-up to bring things under control."

Sarfraz Ahmed, who manages a shop at the station, said youngsters had been causing trouble at the station in the past few weeks.  "One day last week a gang chased a boy into a shop and attacked him and trashed the place. They are about 15 or 16 and come here on their bikes."

Following the incident the ticket hall and a part of Victoria bus station was closed for a time on Thursday, leading to severe disruption for commuters.

Sofyen Belamouadden: Youths guilty of Victoria killing

Five teenagers have been convicted of killing a 15-year-old boy at Victoria station in central London.

Sofyen Belamouadden, from Acton, west London, was chased and stabbed in the ticket hall of the Tube station in March 2010.

Two teenagers have been found guilty of his murder. Three others have been convicted of manslaughter.

The trial heard that the rush-hour attack was planned on the social network site Facebook.

The trial at the Old Bailey had been told that Sofyen was killed in a "merciless" knife attack.

He was killed after tensions between pupils from two west London schools, some of whom saw the station as "home territory", jurors heard.

Mark Heywood QC, prosecuting, said the attack on the schoolboy took place in "broad daylight" in front of hundreds of commuters.

Sofyen was confronted by a group with a sword at Victoria station before being chased into the Tube station where he was stabbed nine times, including to the lung and chest.