The writer Salman Rushdie, who for years was the target of deaths threats from Iran, was stabbed in the neck Friday at a conference in New York state.

 Rushdie, whose book "The Satanic Verses" sent him undercover out of fear for his life, was preparing to speak at the Chautauqua Institution in western New York when Hadi Matar, 24, rushed the stage around 10:45 a.m., attacked him and an interviewer and then started to stab the 75-year-old author, police said.

 Rushdie was stabbed in the neck and taken by helicopter to a hospital, where he is undergoing surgery, the state police said.