London Bridge attacker Usman Khan had Pak-link; Indian-origin cop led anti-terror op

A convicted terrorist, who spent part of his teenage years in Pakistan and released last year from a UK prison, is suspected to be the man who stabbed two people to death in a terror attack on London Bridge, police said on Saturday. Police have identified the terrorist as 28-year-old Usman Khan, inspired by the ideology of terror group Al Qaeda. He was previously sentenced for terrorism offences.

According to The Telegraph, at the time of his sentencing in 2012, the judge warned that he was a "serious jihadist" who should not be released while he remained a threat to the public. Usman Khan left school with no qualifications after spending part of his late teenage years in Pakistan, where he lived with his mother when she became ill, it said.

READ| ISIS claims responsibility for London Bridge attack involving Pak-linked attacker

READ| Imran Khan admits Pakistan Army, ISI trained Al Qaeda, justifies links

A UK news media organisation reported that Usman Khan was out on license from prison when he killed two people and injured three others in the stabbing attack on Friday before he was shot dead by the Scotland Yard. Khan was living in Stafford since being released from prison last December, it said.

In February 2012, Usman Khan was sentenced to eight years in prison. In 2013, the Court of Appeal sentenced him to a 16-year jail term. Two people were killed and several others injured in the London Bridge attack on Friday. The Scotland Yard confirmed that a male suspect, later identified as Usman Khan, wearing a hoax bomb vest was shot dead at the scene.

Scotland Yard's Head of Counter Terrorism Policing, Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu, said in a statement at New Scotland Yard headquarters in London that a "number" of people had been injured, some of whom are said to be critical. The senior Indian-origin top police officer said Usman Khan had attended an event on Friday afternoon at the Fishmonger's Hall, a historic building near the London Bridge.

London Bridge was one of the areas targeted by an ISIS-claimed terrorist attack in June 2017, when 11 people died as terrorists went on a stabbing spree after ramming a van into pedestrians. The UK had just earlier this month downgraded its terror threat level from "severe" to "substantial", which means a terrorist threat is likely rather than highly likely in the country.

READ| Pakistan & Terrorism: 6 Freudian slips by Pak leaders on Osama, Hafiz Saeed & Masood Azhar that give it all away

READ| Al Qaeda's Indian Subcontinent chief, Pakistan-based Asim Omar killed