KNIFE ATTACKER WAS ‘SHOUTING ALLAHU AKBAR’
Terrorism is ‘part of inquiry’ but gardaí say motive is not yet clear
AN Egyptian teenager shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ as he went on a stabbing spree in Dundalk yesterday, killing one man and leaving two others injured. Gardaí said they are looking into terrorism as a ‘line of inquiry’.
However, senior security sources believe the murder suspect – who was carrying two knives – is ‘unhinged’ and they say there is nothing to suggest, at present, that he has any links to terrorism.
Technical experts are examining two mobile phones seized from the teenager to determine if he has any connection to
international terrorism. One source said that, after his arrest, he was shouting that he had brought ‘dishonour to his family because of something that happened elsewhere’.
The terrifying incident unfolded at 9am yesterday, at Avenue Road in the Co. Louth town.
An innocent Japanese man who was ‘going about his daily business’ was stabbed to death. The 24-year-old – named by sources last night as Yosuke Sasaki – was approached from behind by his attacker and stabbed several times in the back.
After returning briefly to a derelict house, where it is believed he was sleeping rough for a few weeks, the Egytian suspect ventured outside again to continue his crime spree on foot.
He came across a young Irishman on Coes Road – named locally as Cian Murphy – and again stabbed him from behind.
He then fled, at this point ‘covered in blood’.
A couple of streets away, on Seatown Place, he attacked another Irishman with a wooden pole, hitting him on the head and body.
The three victims were all making their way to work when attacked by the teen.
A uniformed garda called for back-up at 9.45am, when he spotted the attacker behaving erratically with a pole.
The suspect was then arrested and taken to Dundalk Garda Station where he was being held last night. The two injured men were taken to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital for treatment. Both men are being treated for non-life threatening injuries.
One well-placed source said: ‘This young man seems majorly mentally unhinged. He is screaming and roaring in custody.
‘While under arrest he has been shouting the Garda station down, saying that he has brought dishonour to his family because of something that happened elsewhere.
‘His behaviour seems erratic and out of control. But he has been deemed medically fit to be interviewed by gardaí.’
Sources have confirmed that the suspect was in an ‘extremely distressed and agitated state’ and was heard shouting, ‘Allahu Akbar’.
A taxi driver who witnessed the suspect being arrested told the Irish Daily Mail the man ‘walked calmly into the Garda van’. ‘I think he was handcuffed, they were all there, all the gardaí and he just walked in very calmly: you would think he was after committing a robbery or something a lot less serious.
‘It was only afterwards I heard he had killed a man. He didn’t look like that’s what he had just done.’
It is believed the suspect was living in a derelict house in Dundalk for ‘at least a couple of weeks’ before he came into contact with gardaí on January 1 in Dundalk town.
When he was unable to provide identification documents he was processed as an asylum seeker.
He was duly sent to Hatch Hall asylum centre, Dublin 2, the same day.
However, the young man appears to have made his way back to Dundalk either on Tuesday or in the early hours of yesterday morning.
Security sources suspect he arrived back on Tuesday and that he most likely stayed overnight in the derelict house, close to St Mary’s college grounds in the town. This was searched by gardaí yesterday afternoon, and they now believe he may have been living there for a number of weeks.
‘Initial inquiries’ show that the teen arrived across the border and into Dundalk originally.
It is believed he had been living in Belfast prior to this. Gardaí are liaising with international police forces but believe he travelled to the North from Britain.
Three scenes of attack were yesterday sealed off by gardaí as they carried out their inquires and a canvas was erected on Avenue Road in the town.
Gardaí said there is no reason
‘Fled covered in blood’
to believe the suspect was known to his victims.
Speaking at a Garda press conference at Dundalk Garda Station yesterday Chief Superintendent Christy Mangan admitted gardaí have no idea who the suspect is or why he was in Dundalk.
He said: ‘The suspect is 18 years of age and all we know is, at this point and you have to appreciate it’s very early on in the investigation, the suspect is Egyptian and that’s simply what we know about the suspect at the moment.
‘We certainly would be very interested to know and establish exactly how the suspect came into this jurisdiction, how long they were here and who they were associating with.
‘We certainly would be appealing to people who know the suspect from the time that they would have been in this jurisdiction.’
The only information available presently to gardaí is that the suspect contacted gardaí on January 1 seeking asylum, however he had no address.
When Chief Supt Mangan was asked how long the suspect had been living in Dundalk prior to this interaction with gardaí he said: ‘We don’t know. We are aware that the suspect was living in Dundalk town on 1st January 2018.’
He added that a ‘terror attack is a line of inquiry; it’s certainly a line we will look at.
‘We will endeavour to establish the suspect’s background, who they are, and where they’ve come from, and are they here?
‘Those are the fairly important questions we’re endeavouring to ask and answer and, as to why the attacks took place, why an innocent bystander going about their work would be attacked in the middle of Dundalk in the morning.’
Yesterday crowds gathered on Avenue Road after news of the stabbing spread. Two elderly locals described the attacks as ‘disgusting’. One woman said: ‘It is a disgraceful thing to happen. In this town people minding their own business and then this happens. It’s disgusting.’
Another woman said: ‘It is shameful and terrible. How dare anyone do that to another person.’
A local shopkeeper who was working nearby at the time of the incident said: ‘I came into work and next thing, there is all this commotion and police cars everywhere.
‘I think it’s too early in the day to even try and get my head around it. It is horrible. A man lying dead up the road from the shop it is really scary.’
Another shop worker said there was a small community of Japanese in the area and many live in the Adelphi area.
‘They are very quiet people. There are not many here, possibly 15 or 20. It must be really terrible for their family to hear this news.
‘Many of them work in the paint factory in Dundalk. I feel so sorry for the man who died and his family.’
Parish priest Fr Paul said he was ‘very sad’ to hear the news of the attacks and was awaiting any further information.
‘I’ve only just heard of it as I’ve been sick in bed for a few days and I think it’s is a very sad thing to happen.’
One uniformed garda has been praised for finding the suspect in yesterday’s murder and calling for back-up. Chief Superintendent Mangan thanked the garda for handling the situation in such a calm manner.
Having received a number of calls to Dundalk Garda station an alert was sent to a number of gardaí in the area about the attacks.
He said: ‘One uniformed garda observed this person acting in a very erratic way with the pole and I think his actions are to be commended.
‘He stood back and observed what was going on and kept the person under observation at a close distance and called for assistance which is the proper way to deal with such matters.’
A number of specialist Garda unit are involved in the investigation. These include the Garda National Immigration Bureau, the Special Detective Unit, and the Computer Crime Unit.
‘Random and unprovoked’