London Attack Suspects Named By Police

Metropolitan Police Service
Metropolitan Police Service
Author

06 June, 2017

Questions about the security services' capacity to track Britain's 23,000 known potential terrorists loom large after it was confirmed last night that Khuram Butt, one of the three London Bridge killers, had been a "person of interest" in a live investigation.

Authorities first investigated Butt in 2015 after receiving a tip from the public on an anti-terror hotline, according to The Telegraph. He was known to police and MI5, the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence agency, Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said.

Referring to Butt, Mr Rowley said one of the three was part of an investigation "prioritised in the lower echelons of our investigative work".

His admission came as it emerged that Butt had links to the radical preacher Anjem Choudary, former leader of the banned Al-Muhajiroun group, and was with him the day after the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby in Woowich, south London in 2013.

The three men in Saturday's assault were shot dead by police, who said the men were wearing suicide belts that turned out to be fakes.

The Ramadhan Foundation, a Muslim anti-extremist charity, revealed that its chief executive, Mohammed Shafiq, was called a traitor by Butt after he denounced the killing of Fusilier Rigby. It is connected to a quarter of terrorism offences.

Police said there would be "increased physical measures on London's bridges to keep the public safe".

Scotland Yard's Commissioner Cressida Dick said authorities were confronting a "new reality" after three deadly assaults hit the United Kingdom in just 10 weeks.

Independent.ie understands Rachid Redouane (below) lived in Rathmines in south Dublin as recently as the end of 2016. Police said he also used the name of Rachid Elkhdar and a different date of birth that gave his age as 25. Redouane was married to a British woman from Barking and had an 18-month-old daughter.

Police have not identified the third attacker.

CNN's Melissa Bell spoke to residents there who recognized a familiar face among the three dead attackers, identifying him as one of their neighbors and describing him as a family man who kept to himself.

A vigil was held at London Bridge last night for the victims of the attack.

Three attackers plowed a auto into a crowd on London Bridge and stabbed several people at the nearby Borough Market on Saturday night.

Of the 48 people taken to hospital, 36 are now being cared for in London hospitals with 18 remaining in a critical condition.


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