London terrorist had been in ‘Jihadis Next Door’ doc
One of the three knifewielding terrorists in Saturday’s London Bridge rampage was featured in a 2016 British documentary called “The Jihadis Next Door,” news reports show, while a Boston College student has emerged as a hero for helping a wounded man.
British authorities identified two of three suspects in the attacks that began on the London Bridge as Khuram Shazad Butt and Rachid Redouane. Both men were killed by police. A third suspect, who was also fatally shot, was not named yesterday.
Authorities said the three suspects, wearing fake suicide bomb vests, rented a van and mowed down victims and then continued on a stabbing spree in the streets near Borough Market, leaving at least seven dead and 48 wounded before the attackers were shot to death by police. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack.
Butt, 27, a former transit worker, was featured in the 2016 Channel 4 documentary, “The Jihadis Next Door.” In the documentary, Butt can be seen praying in a London park.
Butt’s neighbors described him as sociable, inviting male neighbors over for barbecues. But his proselytizing behavior raised enough alarms for them to call a police hotline to warn that he was an extremist, the newspaper reported.
Butt, a Pakistani-born British citizen, was known to intelligence agencies. Redouane, who was not known to intelligence agencies, claimed to be Moroccan and Libyan and gave his age as 30 or 25, authorities said.
Meanwhile, Mark Kindschuh, 19, a Boston College junior from New York who has been studying abroad in Britain, told the BBC he wrapped a belt around a man’s head to stop the bleeding; the man had suffered a gunshot wound.
“It was just adrenaline pumping,” Kindschuh said. “I was just trying to save this guy. We put the belt around his head and we’re trying to coax him, trying to keep him alive.”
Kindschuh said he was in the Wheatsheat Pub Saturday night getting dinner when shots rang out, prompting dozens of people in the streets to rush inside.
That’s when Kindschuh said he saw a man he believed to be a Sikh, in his 40s or 50s, bleeding from the head. He shouted, “Is somebody a doctor or a nurse? Nobody came over.”
Kindschuh told the BBC the bartender locked the door, and shortly after one of the attackers tried to get in but was subdued by police.
NBC News reported last night an American bystander was hit in the head by a stray bullet during the police response. Authorities said the wounded civilian was expected to survive, but have not released any details about him. It was unclear if the reports were referring to the man Kindschuh helped.
Also last night, British police said all 12 people detained after the attack have been released without charge.
It was the third terrorist attack in Britain in the past three months. Prime Minister Theresa May has come under fire for her role reducing ranks of cops. It is unclear whether having more police on duty might have changed the outcome. The three suspects Saturday were shot within eight minutes. But the issue has stuck with May, who was home secretary for six years before she became prime minister last year. Police numbers have dropped by roughly 20,000 officers in that time. The number of armed officers has also been reduced.
May said yesterday Britain’s counterterrorism operations are fully funded. But London Mayor Sadiq Khan said cuts have been draconian.
“Over the last seven years, we as a city have lost 600 million pounds ($775 million) from our budget,” Khan said. “We have had to close police stations, sell police buildings and we’ve lost thousands of police staff.”