Knife attack on London Bridge

Two dead, three injured – suspect had served time for terrorism

LONDON: UK counterterrorism police yesterday were searching for clues about how a man imprisoned for terrorism offensces before his release last year stabbed several people before being tackled by bystanders and shot dead by officers on London Bridge.

Two people were killed and three wounded in Friday’s attack.

Neil Basu, London’s police counterterrorism chief, said Usman Khan, 28, had been attending a programme that aims to educate prisoners when he launched an attack, just metres from the site of a deadly 2017 van and knife rampage.

Basu said the suspect had appeared to be wearing a bomb vest but it turned out to be “a hoax explosive device”.

Police said they were treating the stabbings as a terrorist attack.

Health officials said one of the wounded was in critical condition, one was stable and the third had minor injuries.

The attack raises difficult questions for Britain’s government and security services. Police said Khan had been convicted of terrorism offences in 2012 and released in December 2018 “on licence,” which means he had to meet certain conditions. Several British media outlets reported that he was wearing an electronic ankle bracelet at the time of the attack.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he had “long argued” that it was a “mistake to allow serious and violent criminals to come out of prison early”.

Khan had been convicted as part of a group that denied plotting to target major sites including parliament and the US embassy. Khan admitted to a lesser charge of engaging in conduct for the preparation of acts of terrorism.

Johnson said more police would be patrolling the streets in the coming days “for reassurance purposes”.

The violence erupted less than two weeks before Britain holds a national election on December 12. The main political parties suspended campaigning in London as a mark of respect.

Metropolitan police chief Cressida Dick said officers had been called just before 2pm on Friday to Fishmongers’ Hall, a conference venue at the north end of London Bridge.

Learning Together, a Cambridge University-backed prison education programme, was holding a conference at the hall. Cambridge vice-chancellor Stephen Toope said he was “devastated to learn that today’s (Friday) hateful attack on London Bridge may have been targeted at staff, students and alumni attending an event organised by the University of Cambridge’s Institute of Criminology”.

Minutes after the stabbings, witnesses saw a man with a knife being wrestled to the ground by members of the public before officers shot him.

Mayor Sadiq Khan praised the “breathtaking heroism of members of the public who literally ran towards danger not knowing what confronted them”.

Security officials earlier this month had downgraded Britain’s terrorism threat level from “severe” to “substantial”.

It was based in part on a judgment that the threat of extremists returning from Syria to launch attacks in Britain had been slightly reduced.

Elsewhere, Dutch police yesterday were still searching for a man who stabbed and injured three people in the centre of The Hague a day earlier.