London attacker of PoK descent

Convicted in 2012 for plot to bomb stock exchange

London, November 30

The man who stabbed and killed two persons in the London Bridge terrorist attack on Friday has been identified as a convicted terrorist who was jailed seven years ago for plotting to bomb the London Stock Exchange and build a terrorist training camp on land owned by his family in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

The suspect, identified as Usman Khan, had also discussed staging a Mumbai-style attack on the UK Parliament and described by the judge who sentenced him for terrorism offences in 2012 as an ongoing risk to the public with a “serious, long term venture in terrorism”.

Khan went on a rampage while out on parole and killed one man and a woman and injured three others before being shot by police officers.

“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,” said Neil Basu, Assistant Commissioner, Scotland Yard’s Head of Counter Terrorism Policing, on Saturday.

“This individual was known to authorities, having been convicted in 2012 for terrorism offences. He was released from prison in December 2018 on licence and clearly, a key line of inquiry now is to establish how he came to carry out this attack,” the senior Indian-origin top police officer said.

The profile of Khan dating back to his conviction in 2012 reveals his links with Islamist terrorism, believed to be al-Qaida but could also have an IS connection. He had been secretly recorded talking about plans to recruit UK radicals to train at a camp in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), the region his family comes from.

He and two other co-conspirators had conducted a surveillance trip around central London as they talked about launching a Mumbai-style attack on UK Parliament.

Khan had originally received an indeterminate sentence to be kept behind bars for public protection but this was quashed by the UK Court of Appeal in April 2013, after which he was given a determinate 16-year jail term and ordered to serve at least eight years in prison before being considered for parole.

He had been released on licence, or parole, in December last year and was reportedly being monitored via an electronic tag.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was then London Mayor, was on a hit-list found on Khan at the time of his arrest in 2012.

Speaking before chairing a meeting of the government’s emergency Cobra committee, Johnson said it was important to break the “habit” of allowing serious and violent criminals to come out of prison early and “enforce the appropriate sentences for dangerous criminals, especially for terrorists”. — PTI

Box

Planned Mumbai-style attack

* Usman Khan was convicted in 2012 for terrorism offences, released on bail in December 2018

* He and 2 others had conducted a recce in London to launch a Mumbai-style attack on UK Parliament

* Khan planned to recruit UK radicals to train at a terror camp in PoK, where his family comes from

* British PM Boris Johnson, then London Mayor, was on a hit-list found on Khan at the time of his arrest