COPS' WAR ON KNIVES.

Byline: By JON CLEMENTS

A HUGE crackdown on teenage knife crime is being launched following the wave of fatal stabbings.

Police will step up stop-and-search and metal detecting knife arches will be installed in Tube and rail stations with a history of trouble.

All 32 boroughs across London will have special units of at least five officers and a sergeant targeting the worst teenage gang members in their area.

The operations will be led by Scotland Yard's violent crime directorate, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair revealed yesterday.

He said the "situation where 15 teenagers have been murdered since January" had created a "completely unacceptable" climate of fear.

He added: "We have decided to launch a special operation designed to deal with this over the summer."

Commander Sean Sawer said the teams would concentrate on murder, grievous bodily harm and rape - which was "used in support of gangs for initiation, for enforcement or for retribution".

Meanwhile, the family of 14-year-old Martin Hinnegan, stabbed to death in Holloway, North London, on Tuesday night, were "broken", relatives said. Police said a 15-year-old boy was being questioned at a North London station.