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Re: TERROR Attacks in EUROPE- al-Qaida Terrorist Closes London Bridge UK
al-Qaida Convicted Terrorist Closes London Bridge UK
London Bridge Attacker was Convicted Terrorist Usman Khan, 28
The 28-year-old was convicted in 2012 for terrorism offences and released from prison in December 2018 on licence. He had been living in the Staffordshire area and officers were searching the address
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The Guardian / Daily Mirror UK, 30 NOV 2019.
Usman Khan, 28
The London Bridge attacker who killed a man and a woman was a convicted Islamist terrorist who was automatically freed from prison a year ago and wearing an electronic monitoring tag.
Inspired by al-Qaida, Usman Khan, 28, and others had plotted to bomb the London Stock Exchange and target other sites including the Houses of Parliament and the US Embassy, as well as then-mayor Boris Johnson, the Dean of St Paul's Cathedral and two rabbis.
UK-born Khan, who wanted to build a terrorist training camp on his family's land in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, was charged in December 2010 and convicted in February 2012 of terrorism offences, but was released from prison last December on licence.
Judge Mr Justice Wilkie gave the jihadist an indeterminate sentence with at least eight years, saying he should not be released until he was no longer a threat to the public.
But the indeterminate sentence was quashed by the Court of Appeal in April 2013 and he was given a 16-year jail term. The terrorist was automatically freed halfway through that term.
Less than a year after being freed, Khan - armed with a knife in each hand and wearing a fake suicide vest - launched a terrifying rampage in the heart of the capital, killing two and injuring three others before he was tackled by heroic witnesses and shot dead at point-blank range by armed police within minutes.
Khan's home in a block of flats in Stafford was being searched by police. Neighbours said he had been living there for at least a few weeks.
It is said that Khan had been enrolled in the government's deradicalisation programme.
One of the injured survivors was in a critical but stable condition in hospital following the incident, which came two years after a terror attack in London Bridge and Borough Market left eight people dead.
Two of the heroes who fought back and disarmed the suspect were a man who sprayed Khan with a fire extinguisher and a man - said to be a Polish chef named Lukasz - who wielded a 5ft narwhal tusk that was taken from a wall at nearby Fishmongers' Hall, where the attack started.
The homegrown terrorist and some of those who stopped him were at the hall, on the north side of the bridge, for a University of Cambridge conference called Learning Together. Khan is said to have "threatened to blow up" the building as he launched his attack.
It is understood that is Khan was invited to the event on prison rehabilitation to share his experiences as a former inmate.
Usman Khan (third from right) and the other terror suspects who were jailed in 2012 (Image: Police Handout Picture)
Khan was being monitored with an electronic tag on his ankle when he was released from jail a year ago and had current links to Islamist terror groups.
He was a "student" and personal friend of Islamist hate preacher Anjem Choudary at the time of his arrest in 2010, the Henry Jackson Society think-tank said.
One of the half dozen or so heroes was a murderer who was attending the same conference on day release. James Ford, 42, was jailed for life in 2004 for the murder of 21-year-old Amanda Champion, who was found strangled with her throat cut in Ashford, Kent, in July 2003.
Tour guides Thomas Gray, 24, and Stevie Hurst, 32, and an off-duty plainclothes police officer also helped to disarm or pin down the attacker as armed police raced to the scene. The heroes didn't know at the time that the suicide vest was fake.
A source told PA that Khan had previously participated in the Learning Together prisoner rehabilitation programme but had showed "no cause for concern".
It is understood that Khan started "lashing out" in a downstairs room of the hall, but was grabbed by the conference-goers and bundled out of the front door as he tried to go upstairs.
Khan was wearing a fake suicide vest when he launched his attack in London (Image: Sky News)
Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu said investigators were "not actively seeking anyone else" over the attack which unfolded just before 2pm on Friday.
In a statement, Mr Basu said: "The investigation into the attack near London Bridge continues at a pace.
"Whilst we are still in the early stages of the investigation, at this time we are not actively seeking anyone else in relation to the attack.
"However, we continue to make fast time enquiries to ensure that no other people were involved in this attack and that there is no outstanding threat to the public.
"As I stated earlier, police were called at 1.58pm to a stabbing at premises near to London Bridge, EC1. Emergency services attended, including officers from the City of London Police and the Metropolitan Police.
"A male suspect was shot by specialist armed officers and I can confirm that he died at the scene.
"We are now in a position to confirm the identity of the suspect as 28-year-old Usman Khan, who had been residing in the Staffordshire area.
"As a result, officers are, tonight, carrying out searches at an address in Staffordshire.
A block of flats in Stafford was being searched by specialist police teams (Image: Tom Maddick SWNS)
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