The BBC said it had caught in 2019 the attention of MI5, because of the attempts at departure abroad “potentially for terrorism”.
In shock after the terrorist attack to the knife that has killed three in a park in Reading, west of London, the United Kingdom has questioned this Monday on the past of the suspect, who according to the british press was already found in the crosshairs of the intelligence services. Here is what we know at this hour on this man 25 years old.
mental health is fragile
witnesses quoted by the british news agency PA reported that the assailant, an inhabitant of this city of 200 000 inhabitants located about 60 kilometres from the british capital, had been attacked several groups gathered in the park in the evening sun. “The park was full, a lot of people were sitting for a drink with friends when someone came in, suddenly shouted words, unintelligible and went toward a group of a dozen people, trying to attack them with a knife,” said Lawrence Wort, a witness to the scene.
“He stabbed three of them, severely in the neck and under the arms, and then he turned around and started running towards me, it turned around and started to run”, explained the coach of 20 years. “When he realized that he could not catch up with us, he was able to reach a person at the back of the neck, and when he saw that everyone began to run, he left the park.”
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He was eventually arrested “five minutes” after the first call to the police, according to the police of the Thames valley. According to the Daily Telegraph, citing a security source, his “mental health” is considered a “major factor”. “It looked very weird,” said Amir Hadyoon, a delivery driver for 31 years, recounting the arrest. “He has not said a word”, he said to journalists.
In the radar of MI5
If the police has not revealed his identity, several british media present it as a libyan refugee.
investigators believe that the author has acted alone, according to the head of the anti-terrorist police, Neil Basu. “We don’t seek anyone else”, he said. If the motives of this “horrible act” are “far from certain”, the terrorism that has taken the lead in investigations, he explained.
Citing security sources, the BBC said that the suspect had drawn in 2019 the attention of MI5, the domestic intelligence, because of the attempts at departure abroad “potentially for terrorism”, but there is no threat or imminent risk had been highlighted.
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According to The Telegraph, the young man was released from prison in June after a conviction for minor crimes unrelated to terrorism.
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The Uk has suffered two attacks called terrorists in recent months. At the end of November, a jihadist on parole killed two people in the heart of London. The assailant was shot dead by the police on the bridge from London Bridge. Then on 2 February, three people were injured with a knife during an attack “of such a nature that the islamist”, according to the police in a shopping street in south London. The assailant, already convicted of terrorist crimes, was killed by the police.
