Report: London Attacker was Convicted Terrorist with Jihadist Ties

UPDATE — 7:46 PM EST/00:46 GMT: The man who carried out the London Bridge terror attack has been identified as 28-year-old Usman Khan, Metropolitan Police confirm. He was jailed in 2012 as part of a plot to bomb the London Stock Exchange and build a terrorist training camp. He was also believed to have supported al-Muhijaroun, a militant jihadist network in the United Kingdom, reports The Guardian. Read the original article below.

The suspected attacker responsible for Friday’s deadly stabbing in central London was a convicted terrorist who was recently released from prison and believed to possess ties to Islamic extremist groups, according to The Times.

Earlier, a knife-wielding man stabbed several people at London Bridge, killing two and wounding three others. Police shot the suspect dead at the scene. He is said to have worn a fake explosive vest and an electronic prison tag. Prior to the attack, the knifeman threatened to blow up Fishmongers’ Hall, where he was reportedly planning to attend a conference on prisoner rehabilitation organized by the University of Cambridge, reports The Times. Authorities are treating the deadly incident as a terror attack.

Pedestrians and vehicular commuters described the fear they felt and the chaos at the scene. Ulig Bek of Uzbekistan told The Times: “I saw the guy lying on the ground and didn’t know what was going on.”

Bek, who video-recorded shots being fired, added: “The police were shouting at him and he was shouting, ‘Help, help, help’. Everyone was so shook up. Police were screaming, ‘Put it down.'”

Authorities shut off traffic to London Bridge and closed a nearby train station during the incident. They later said that enhanced patrols would be implemented throughout the city during this busy shopping period.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it is a “mistake” to allow criminals to leave prison early and vowed to increased police presence following the “heartbreaking” attack.

“Obviously our thoughts are very much them and their families, their loved ones, everybody affected by the attack,” Johnson told reporters. “My thanks go first of all to the emergency services — the police, for their bravery and their professionalism, and to repeat again and give thanks again to members of the public who put themselves in harm’s way to protect others. I think they represent the best of our country.”

“I thank them on behalf of the rest of our country,” he added.

A NATO official said the alliance is not making any change in plans for next week’s summit in London. President Donald Trump is among those scheduled to attend.

Hours after the London Bridge attack, a knifeman believed to be 45-years-old wounded three people in The Hague’s busiest shopping street. The suspect is still at large. Police spokesperson Marije Kuiper told the Associated Press it is unknown whether the rampage was terror-related.

https://www.breitbart.com/euro...eleased-from-prison/

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The suspected attacker responsible for Friday’s deadly stabbing in central London was a convicted terrorist who was recently released from prison

What the bloody hell!?

Probably why they were so quick to call it terrrorism.

It seems to me that it has typically been the habit here in the US (>3 years ago, anyway) to avoid labeling such incidents as terrorism, but not in Europe. If it had happened here it might have been called “bridgeplace violence” or some such.

As for the weapons men used to respond to the incident, we can sneer all we want, but if it had happened in the US, how would it have been different based on similar incidents? If it had been someplace where being armed was permissible, it might have involved guns—but then the murderer would probably have had a bigger gun. How many AKs or ARs would have been brought to bear in California, New York, New Jersey, or anywhere else on the coasts?

If no possible defender had had a gun, though, experience here has demonstrated that no one would have attempted to take the attacker down before the police arrived. I’ll give credit where credit is due, and if all I have to use against a killer is a spear or fire extinguisher, I won’t curl up in a corner lamenting the fact that the local laws and rules prevented me from having my M1A at hand.

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Originally posted by 2012BOSS302:
Report: London Attacker was Convicted Terrorist with Jihadist Ties

He is said to have worn a fake explosive vest and an electronic prison tag. Prior to the attack, the knifeman threatened to blow up Fishmongers’ Hall, where he was reportedly planning to attend a conference on prisoner rehabilitation organized by the University of Cambridge, reports The Times.

Recidivism seems to be somewhat high for this particular group of rehabilitated prisoners. I wonder what changes the University of Cambridge will make to their conference presentations after this event.

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Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:

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The suspected attacker responsible for Friday’s deadly stabbing in central London was a convicted terrorist who was recently released from prison

What the bloody hell!?

A terrorists should be freed from prison. They just need to make sure to release them to the morgue. The only good terrorist is a ...

.....

This message has been edited. Last edited by: SIP2000GLO,

The bridge is a symbolic, target rich environment with lots of pedestrian traffic.

I am most impressed with the fact that there were armed police who were able to respond as quickly as they did. It had been a real process to get approval for armed police to get their guns out of the vault in the boot. When I was working there in 2008 a good friend in the Constabulary told me he thought they were within a generation of having all officers armed again, and that there was quite a bit of pressure to move in that direction. I recall that many Brits were astonished to see armed officers at Buckingham Palace and in the airports. The days of unarmed officers are numbered in England as these savages have become ensconced.

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Originally posted by HayesGreener:
When I was working there in 2008 a good friend in the Constabulary told me he thought they were within a generation of having all officers armed again ....

Did he indicate what officers themselves thought of the move?
I have read that polls there indicate that much of the resistance comes from the police themselves. And I suppose that makes sense. An officer who’s been on the job for years and has had literally no experience with firearms in his/her life probably has no desire to start late in a career.

“A furious political row is emerging today after it was revealed that the London Bridge terrorist was released automatically from prison last year.

Usman Khan, 28, was jailed in 2012 for terrorism offences for his part in an al Qaeda-inspired terror group that plotted to bomb the London Stock Exchange and the US Embassy and kill Boris Johnson.

As part of the plotting, Khan's group planned to set up a training camp in Kashmir, where his family had land.

Khan, born and raised in Stoke-on-Trent, originally received an indeterminate sentence for public protection with a minimum of eight years behind bars after his 2012 arrest, meaning he would remain locked up for as long as necessary, to protect the public.

But this sentence was quashed at the Court of Appeal in April 2013 and he was given a determinate 16-year jail term instead, meaning he would be automatically released after eight years.

Judges including Lord Justice Leveson said at the time when reversing the original sentence that the Parole Board was best placed to decide when he would be safe to be released from jail.

But today the Parole Board has released a statement saying that Khan was released automatically and they did not make the decision…”

https://mol.im/a/7740295

^^^^^^^^
Related. President Trump has a better approach…

“Donald Trump has become the first president to invoke the Patriot Act in order to detain a man behind bars indefinitely - despite the fact he completed the duration of his criminal sentence and should've been released nearly three-years-ago.
……
However, Hassoun remains under the detention of ICE officials in New York after the Trump administration enacted Section 412 of the Patriot Act - for this first time in history - citing him as a continued threat to national security…”

https://mol.im/a/7740303

UK police: Suspect in attack had served time for terrorism
AP > https://apnews.com/edbd48353f9b4766abc7ddb34c0300cb


"LONDON (AP) — UK counterterrorism police on Saturday searched for clues into how a man imprisoned for terrorism offenses before his release last year managed to stab several people before being tackled by bystanders and shot dead by officers on London Bridge. Two people were killed and three wounded.

Neil Basu, London’s police counterterrorism chief, said 28-year-old Usman Khan was attending a program that works to educate prisoners when he launched Friday’s attack just yards from the site of a deadly 2017 van and knife rampage.
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Looks like he was just getting his life back together when he was triggered again.
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about the redundant posting:
Sorry Para. I searched [using the word "London"], but somehow it didn't come up. I will search harder next time.

jljones -- Vests.

When they clack off a vest in a crowded Walmart at six o'clock last night. At someone's crowded piano recital.

Explosives are cheap, readily available, and easy to make. Once this happens a few times, the call for the authorities to "do something" will be so great that our way of life as we know it will be forever altered. It will affect the First, Second, Fourth and probably Fifth Amendment by the time they get done with it.

The amount of panic that fake vests will provide at that point will leave a horrific impact on free society. It'll be gun control on steroids. Society as we know it will end for a security state. We as a society are not willing to take up an Israeli model to attempt to stop this. end quote.

---------
This brought to mind a novel by R.A. Heinlein from the 60's -- The Puppet Masters.
Aliens are a shape-shifting blob about the weight of a cat. They control humans by physical contact. At first they needed lots of skin contact area but as humans got wise to this--removed shirts & pants so the alien could not 'hide' from view So the aliens learned to get control with less and less contact area till finally eave a thin tendril touching a finger holding a purse or small package would give them control --
Government's answer -- from restricting clothing to requiring all be naked.

Eh? Is not London Bridge down in Arizona?

Tower Bridge, the Brits retained. Pretty bridge, day or night, having been on it.

Explosives? Perhaps. But some illegal automatic weapons at a mall - much more effective.

I'm sure the authorities have their nightmare scenarios. I have mine.

Besides, most of us carry a liquid explosive daily on 4 or even 2 wheels. Even a Tesla is a very good portable explosive - just short it. Lots of energy in a battery.

Stay safe, stay alive, stay happy.

Note: He was required to wear a monitoring bracelet on his ankle so they could keep track of him.
Government officials are now admitting that releasing him may have been a mistake.

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Originally posted by 220-9er:
Note: He was required a monitoring bracelet on his ankle so they could keep track of him.
Government officials are now admitting that releasing him may have been a mistake.

"May".

Yeah, how about that.

Maybe they'll take note of how it ended this time as I guarantee he won't reoffend.

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Eh? Is not London Bridge down in Arizona?

The old one, yeah. They dismantled it, eventually sold it to the guy who took it to Arizona, and replaced the bridge with a new one...I think just slightly upriver of where the old one used to be.

As for "knifeman", yeah. The big PC push over there seems to be to make carrying a knife socially unacceptable, the media's obviously on board, and the writer would've felt terrible if he'd let a perfectly good crisis go to waste by noticing the elephant in the room.

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Originally posted by Il Cattivo:

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Eh? Is not London Bridge down in Arizona?

The old one, yeah. They dismantled it, eventually sold it to the guy who took it to Arizona, and replaced the bridge with a new one...I think just slightly upriver of where the old one used to be.

He was pissed. He thought he'd bought Tower Bridge

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Originally posted by Il Cattivo:

quote:

Eh? Is not London Bridge down in Arizona?

The old one, yeah. They dismantled it, eventually sold it to the guy who took it to Arizona, and replaced the bridge with a new one...I think just slightly upriver of where the old one used to be.

I may be misremembering the story, but I thought I was told an American bought it assembled, marked the outer pieces, disassembled it, sold off the inner granite, shipped the shell to Lake Havasu, installed the shell, filled the inside with cement, then dug the channel under it. The version I heard was that he came out ahead financially. Who knows the truth of it, but I did see the marks on the stones when boating under it in the ‘80s.

icom706, I had the same thought about London Bridge, so I looked it up. There have been 5 of them, apparently, and the one in Arizona was #4.

flashguy