The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed the responsibility of the brutal knife-attack at London Bridge on Friday
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), also known as ISIS, has today, i.e., December 1, 2019, claimed the responsibility of the brutal knife-attack at London Bridge on Friday, November 29, 2019.
Wearing a fake suicide vest and wielding knives, the attacker – Usman Khan begun the assault at a Conference on ‘Criminal Rehabilitation’ being held at Fishmongers Hall, adjacent to London Bridge. Usman Khan was also participant to the Conference. After attacking people at the Fishmongers Hall, he continued the attack on London Bridge.
A total of 2 people were stabbed to death and 3 were seriously wounded in the attack. Usman Khan was later shot dead by the London Police at the site.
A statement from ISIL read, “The person who carried out the London attack was a fighter from the Islamic State and did so in response to calls to target citizens of coalition countries.”
Prior to this, the London Police said that there was no evidence to suggest anyone, other than Usman Khan, to be responsible for the attack. However, it also said it will carry out extensive enquiries to find out if there are other people or group involved in the incident. Police has also carried out searches at Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent.
Usman Khan was a British man, born to Pakistan parents, who was convicted for terrorism in February 2012. Usman Khan was one of the member of a group of 9 men who pled guilty to Al-Qaeda-inspired terrorism offenses, which included plans to bomb the London Stock Exchange and to build a terrorist training camp in Kashmir.
He was sentenced to indeterminate detention, with a minimum jail term of 8 years. The sentence would have allowed authorities to imprison him beyond the minimum term, but in 2013 the Court of Appeal revised his sentence to a fixed term of 16 years, of which half should be served in prison. He was released in December 2018 on temporary release license, meaning he had to meet certain conditions or face recall to prison. As part of his release conditions, Usman Khan was obliged to take part in the Government’s desistance and disengagement programme, which aims to rehabilitate people who have been involved in terrorism.
The first victim of the attack, which saw 3 others wounded, was named as 25-year-old – Jack Merritt. His father confirmed his death on Twitter, calling him a “a beautiful spirit who always took the side of the underdog.”
"My son, Jack, who was killed in this attack, would not wish his death to be used as the pretext for more draconian sentences or for detaining people unnecessarily.. R.I.P. Jack: you were a beautiful spirit who always took the side of the underdog." https://t.co/VbJndgZ33s
— Kevin Maguire (@Kevin_Maguire) November 30, 2019
The attacks have raised a serious questions on the security in United Kingdom (U.K.). The Ministry of Justice, Government of U.K. has launched an urgent review of the temporary release license for terrorists who are freed from prison. The Prime Minister of U.K. – Boris Johnson has claimed to scrap the temporary release license. As a part of temporary license release, Usman Khan was also given a secure laptop that complied with his licence conditions, to allow him to continue the writing and studying, he began while in jail.
Speaking on the attack, Boris Johnson said, “If you are convicted of a serious terrorist offence, there should be a mandatory minimum sentence of 14 years – and some should never be released.”
He also added, “Further, for all terrorism and extremist offences, the sentence announced by the judge must be the time actually served – these criminals must serve every day of their sentence, with no exceptions.”
For the records, ISIL originated as Jama’at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad in 1999, which pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda and participated in the Iraqi insurgency following the 2003 invasion of Iraq by Western forces at the behest of the United States (U.S.). ISIL is widely known for its videos of beheadings and other types of executions of both soldiers and civilians, including journalists and aid workers, and its destruction of cultural heritage sites. The United Nations (U.N.) holds ISIL responsible for committing human rights abuses, crimes against peace, genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.
This is the first attack, which has been claimed by ISIL, after the death of their leader – Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Baghdadi killed himself on October 26, 2019 and 2 children, aged under 12, by detonating a suicide vest while whimpering and crying during the raid conducted by the U.S. Delta Force in the North-Western Province of Idlib in Syria.
