The suspected terrorist shot dead by the law enforcement in the London suburb of Streatham was on a police watch-list when he stabbed three people, according to a Sky News report. Police now say the attack was Islamist-related.
The knifeman who stabbed and injured three people — one seriously — in Streatham on Sunday was “under active police surveillance at the time of the incident,” Sky News’ security correspondent claimed.
NEW Streatham: I understand the individual was under active police surveillance at the time of the incident
London’s Metropolitan Police, which earlier described the incident as “terrorist-related,” has all but confirmed the attack has been inspired by radical Islam.
“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.”
Two months before the Streatham stabber’s onslaught, armed police shot and killed a terrorist attacker on London bridge, after he stabbed two passers-by to death. The assailant, Usman Khan, had been previously imprisoned for a litany of terrorist offenses, and was on parole at the time of his fatal knife rampage.
Both suspects appeared to be wearing fake suicide vests at the time of their attacks. Khan was strapped with a fake explosive vest, while the Streatham attacker was wearing some sort of a “hoax device.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson was slammed on television after Khan’s violent attack, when it emerged that 74 convicted terrorists were free to roam the streets of the UK, after being granted early release from prison.
A subsequent newspaper report described Britain’s prisons as incubators of Islamic extremism, where inmates preside over Sharia trials and recruit young muslim inmates into groups like Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS).
Sunday’s knife attack is likely to once again bring the UK’s apparent inability to prevent terrorist attacks into the media spotlight.
