February 4, 2020

ENGLAND: 20-Year-Old Muslim Man Strapped A Fake Bomb To His Body And Went On A Stabbing Spree, Was Shot To Death By Police. He Was Previously Convicted For Terrorism And Recently Released.


BBC News published Feb 3, 2020: Streatham attack: Man shot dead by police after stabbings in London. Police have been searching two addresses as part of the investigation into the attack in Streatham on Sunday.
BBC News, UK
written by Staff
Sunday February 2, 2020

A man shot dead by police after he attacked people in south London had been recently released from prison after serving time for terror offences.

He was under active police surveillance at the time of the attack, which police believe to be an Islamist-related terrorist incident.

He had a hoax device strapped to his body, police said.

Three people were injured, with one person in a life-threatening condition.

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

Gunshots were heard on Streatham High Road just after 14:00 GMT on Sunday.

Reports suggest a man entered a shop and started stabbing people. It appears he then left the shop and stabbed a woman.

Witnesses reported hearing three gun shots and seeing a man lying on the ground outside a Boots pharmacy, as armed police approached and shouted at those nearby to move back.

The attacker had been released from prison at the end of January, after serving half of his three year sentence.

The BBC's Daniel Sandford said the events appeared to unfold after witnesses saw an unmarked police car pull in front of another car near Streatham Common, forcing it to stop.

He said this could be linked to the subsequent stabbings and police shooting and it was possible somebody was stopped, before being followed by undercover officers.

London Ambulance Service said it treated the three people for injuries at the scene and all were taken to hospital.

Of the other two, one had minor injuries, believed to have been caused by glass following shots from the police firearm, and the third person's condition was not life-threatening.

In a statement, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Lucy D'Orsi said armed officers were in "immediate attendance" and shot a male suspect, as part of a "proactive Counter Terrorism operation".

The situation has been contained and officers from the Met's Counter Terrorism Command are now leading an investigation into the incident, she said.

Streatham High Road remains closed and a cordon is in place, with enhanced police patrols in the area.

Eyewitness Gjon Kathegjolli said he was in a barber shop when he heard a woman, who was with a baby in a push chair and two young boys, scream and saw her being stabbed.

A man then walked past carrying a knife the size of his forearm, he said.

Another eyewitness told the PA news agency: "I was crossing the road when I saw a man with a machete and silver canisters on his chest being chased by what I assume was an undercover police officer."

Daniel Gough said he was out for a run when he heard shots and everyone ran.

"There was panic, people were yelling," he said. "A young girl running alongside me kept asking 'Is this what I'm meant to do?' - she was very distressed.

"I saw a policeman and he yelled, telling everyone to get back. His gun was pointing in the direction of a man on the floor.

"Suddenly, more police appeared. There were [officers] everywhere".

Adam Blake, who was walking along Streatham Common, described how he saw two or three cars crash into each other, including an unmarked police car, as the incident unfolded.

"Another police car carried on towards the hill pursuing someone," he told the BBC.
BBC News, UK
written by Daniel De Simone
Monday February 3, 2020

Sudesh Amman, the 20-year-old responsible for the attack in Streatham, south London, on Sunday, pleaded guilty in November 2018 to six charges of possessing documents containing terrorist information and seven of disseminating terrorist publications.

Three of the terrorist manuals Amman admitted owning were about knife fighting.

In fact, much of Amman's fascination with conducting an attack was said to be focused on using a knife.

He was jailed at the Old Bailey the following month for three years and four months.

I was there and recall Amman smiling as he was sentenced.

He was automatically released from HMP Belmarsh on 23 January 2020 after serving half of his sentence in custody.

It is understood that he had since been living at a bail hostel in south London.

He was under a curfew and had to wear a GPS tag, coupled with exclusion zones such as ports and airports. He had to surrender his passport and had limited access to electronic devices and restrictions on his internet use

First arrest
Amman was first arrested in north London in May 2018 by armed officers on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack, although he was not ultimately charged with doing so. Scotland Yard said that, following consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service, "we did not charge with this offence."

The prosecution of Amman related instead to his ownership and distribution of terrorist propaganda and instructional manuals.

At the time, he was living in Harrow and studying science and maths at the nearby North West London College. Prior to that, Amman had studied at Park High School between 2011 and 2016.

He came to the attention of counter-terrorism police in April 2018 when a Dutch blogger made officers aware of postings on the Telegram messaging app.

The posts included a photo showing an image of a knife along with two firearms on a Shahada flag along with Arabic words meaning: "Armed and ready April 3".

The blogger also said the same person had linked to a YouTube video of a pro-gay rights speaker who frequented Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park.

The post called on others to "all unite together to attack one another. He will be there this Sunday at Hyde Park".

Police enquiries showed the user of the relevant Telegram account was Amman and a decision was taken to arrest him.

The Dutch blogger, named Azazel van den Berg, told the BBC he was "shocked" to have heard that Amman was responsible for the attack.

He said: "I had heard of the attack on Dutch television. When I sat down at my computer I saw that message with his photo late last night."

He added: "I did everything that was possible, I also did not know that man was already free. I think that jihadists like him should be punished harder with prison sentences and not conditionally free with a single bond.

"If he had just served his whole sentence, what happened now would never have happened. But English law must be applied to that, which is a task for the politicians in your country."

Amman had elsewhere written of how he was thinking of conducting a terror attack in north London and that he had conducted reconnaissance.

Detectives discovered that the student was using a WhatsApp group to expose young members of his family to violent terrorist material.

He used it to share an al-Qaeda magazine and exclaimed "the Islamic State is here to stay".

The WhatsApp group - entitled La Familia - included images of Amman's younger siblings in poses reminiscent of IS supporters.

In messages with one family member Amman claimed that, as Yazidi women were slaves, the Koran made it permissible to rape them.

He sent beheadings videos to his girlfriend - whom he said should kill her "kuffar" parents - and told her: "If you can't make a bomb because family, friends or spies are watching or suspecting you, take a knife, molotov, sound bombs or a car at night and attack the tourists (crusaders), police and soldiers of taghut, or Western embassies in every country you are in this planet."

'Die as martyr'
In messages to her, Amman said he had pledged allegiance to Islamic State and wished to carry out acid attacks.

Elsewhere, he asked if he could have a knife delivered to her address and told her he considered Isis to be the best thing to happen to Islam.

He wrote that he preferred the idea of a knife attack over the use of bombs and discussed whether he would stand his ground if police came to arrest him.

In a notebook - in which he had written about explosives and detonators - he had listed his "goals in life". These included: "Die as a shuhada" (martyr) and go to '"jannah" (paradise).

Before he was jailed Amman had previous convictions for possession of an offensive weapon - a broken bottle - and cannabis.
Dirty Kuffar means: A non-believer, someone not accepting the divinity of Allah or Muhammad as his prophet, is referred to as a kafir (pl. kuffar), an Arabic word literally meaning ingrate or infidel - one who rejects, hides, denies, or covers the truth about the message of Islam. It has evolved into a derogatory term used to insult unbelievers or apostates of Islam. (emphasis mine)
I'm sharing this political cartoon above because I feel that it's relevant to this post. The tweet above it from Mathilde van Vliet was reported for offensive content because they tweeted this cartoon and their account was suspended by Twitter. (emphasis mine)

No comments: