London attack terrorist, 20, was freed from jail a week ago

Share

Tweet

Share

Share

Email

Comments

The man shot dead by Scotland Yard on Sunday after he stabbed two people in the south London borough of Lambeth has been identified as Sudesh Amman, who was a teenager when convicted for terror offences in 2018 and was released from jail recently.

The police described the Sunday attack in Streatham as an ‘Islamist-related’ terror incident, which had similarities with the November 29 attack on London Bridge, when another convicted terrorist, Usman Khan, stabbed two people and wore a hoax explosive device.

“The situation has been contained and officers from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command are now leading an investigation into the incident. The incident was quickly declared as a terrorist incident and we believe it to be Islamist-related,” said Lucy D’Ors of the Metropolitan Police.

Amman, 20, was under surveillance since his jail release. He had been serving a sentence for the possession and distribution of extremist material, and was released after serving half of his more-than-three-year sentence. He is reported to have continued to hold extreme views after his release.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the government would on Monday announce fundamental changes to the system for dealing with those convicted of terrorism offences.

The police said in a statement: “Three people are known to have been injured in the #Streatham attack earlier this afternoon. One person is at hospital in a life-threatening condition. We are in the process of informing their family”.

Of the three injured, two were stabbed by Amman: One man was being treated for life-threatening injuries, and a woman with non-life threatening injuries. The third person, a woman, was injured by glass following a firearm discharge by a police officer.

Chris Phillips, former head of Britain’s National Counter Terrorism Security Office, told the BBC that Sunday’s incident “looks very similar to what we saw on London Bridge…We can only hope that police have dealt with it fully now and that it’s one person acting alone”.

Bell Ribeiro-Addy, Labour MP for Streatham, said: “Obviously, we shouldn’t make it an issue to divide us because that’s what terrorism is. If we are afraid and if we are divided, then the terrorists ultimately win.