Alleged London attacker a known radical Islamist
LONDON (AP) – One of the men believed to have carried out the deadly weekend attack in central London was a known radical Islamist who was filmed unfurling a black flag resembling the one used by the Islamic State group and raised the suspicion of a neighbor after allegedly trying to lure local youngsters to join his jihadist campaign.
On Monday, British police identified that man, Khuram Shazad Butt, a 27year-old Pakistan-born Briton, as one of the assailants, saying he was known to authorities, though they had no evidence he was planning an attack. They identified a second attacker who had not aroused suspicion prior to Saturday’s rampage that killed seven people.
As details about Butt emerged, however, they prompted questions of whether he could have been stopped sooner.
He had appeared in a documentary, “The Jihadis Next Door,” that aired on British television last year. Neighbors identified Butt from the film’s footage Monday, pointing to a scene in which he is shown participating in a provocative prayer session at Regents Park, near London’s biggest mosque helping to display a black flag covered in white Arabic lettering similar to the one used by the Islamic State group, which took responsibility for the attack.
Butt is also seen in the film sprawling on the lawn and nodding as he listens to a sermon in which the speaker tells those gathered: “This is not the real life, my dear brothers. This is a passing time for us.”
Butt’s apparent zealotry led one neighbor, Erica Gasparri, to contact police about 18 months ago. The 42-year-old mother of three was working at a local school when she noticed Butt, who was also known as Abu Mohamed, meeting with local children and trying to draw them into his radicalism.
“It was wrong what he was doing,” Gasparri said. “He kept talking about the Islamic State. I got very angry.”