The Islamic State (IS) group on November 30 claimed responsibility for a stabbing attack in central London the previous day that killed two people. The group did not provide any evidence.
“The person who carried out the London attack... was a fighter from the Islamic State, and did so in response to calls to target citizens of coalition countries,” the Islamic State said, referring to a multi-country alliance against the group.
Suspect was ex-terror convict
British police on November 29 shot dead a man wearing a fake suicide vest who stabbed two people to death in London and wounded three more before being wrestled to the ground by bystanders, in what the authorities called a terrorist attack.
The 28-year-old British man, who killed two people in a stabbing spree on London Bridge before the police shot him dead, had been released from prison after a previous conviction for terrorism offences, prompting political recriminations ahead of an election.
Wearing a fake suicide vest and wielding knives, Usman Khan went on the rampage on Friday afternoon at a conference on criminal rehabilitation beside London Bridge. He was wrestled to the ground by bystanders and then shot dead by the police.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who faces a snap election on December 12, said it was a terrorist attack and vowed to end a practice whereby serious offenders can be automatically let out of prison early, as the Opposition attacked the policy.
Khan, whose family is from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, was convicted in 2012 for his part in an al-Qaeda-inspired plot to blow up the London Stock Exchange. He was released in December 2018 subject to conditions.
(With inputs from Reuters)
