LONDON: The Metropolitan Police on Saturday identified the suspected London Bridge attacker as British national Usman Khan, a 28-year-old man from Staffordshire.
Born in London, Khan is of Pakistani ethnicity.
“We are now in a position to confirm the identity of the suspect as 28-year-old Usman Khan, who had been residing in the Staffordshire area. As a result, officers are, tonight, carrying out searches at an address in Staffordshire,” said Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu in a statement issued past midnight.
Khan had stabbed two people to death and left three injured a day earlier in an attack that had caused fear and panic across the city as residents revisited the spectre of terror returning to London.
He was part of a gang of nine extremists from Stoke-on-Trent, Cardiff and London who were sentenced in February 2012 at Woolwich crown court. According to the sentencing remarks, he had planned to establish a “terrorist military training facility” on the land owned by his family in Kashmir.
“This individual was known to authorities, having been convicted in 2012 for terrorism offences,” said the assistant commissioner.
“He was released from prison in December 2018 on licence and clearly, a key line of enquiry now is to establish how he came to carry out this attack.”
Usman Khan was born in the UK
Basu said that Khan was shot dead by specialist armed forces. “The circumstances, as we currently understand them, are that the attacker attended an event earlier on Friday afternoon at Fishmonger’s Hall called ‘Learning Together’.
Reports suggest that Khan had been freed from prison on an electronic tag and that he was wearing a fake suicide vest when he attended the criminal justice conference near London Bridge.
He then began stabbing fellow delegates with two large knives. Khan is thought to have attended the morning session and participated in workshops in which he described his experiences as a prisoner, before launching his deadly attack without warning just before 2pm.
Basu also confirmed that police believed the attack began inside [Fishmonger’s Hall] before Khan left the building and proceeded to London Bridge, where he was detained and subsequently confronted and shot by armed officers.