A man was shot dead by undercover police officers Sunday after stabbing two people in London’s Streatham district. The motive was unclear.
The attacker is identified as 20-year-old ISIS-fanatic Sudesh Amman, who had recently been released from prison for terror offenses and was under active surveillance by the counter-terror authorities.
London’s Metropolitan Police said they shot the attacker after he launched a knife attack while wearing a fake suicide vest. He stabbed two people, while the third has minor injuries caused by glass following the discharge of the police firearm. One of the stabbed victims is being treated for life-threatening injuries.
The suspect was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said a device was found strapped to his body, but officers quickly found it was a “hoax” device.
An eyewitness said a person appearing to be an undercover police officer chased the man, who was armed with a machete and wearing silver canisters on his chest. Pictures and videos of the incident were shared on social media.
“Terrorists seek to divide us and to destroy our way of life. Here in London we will never let them succeed,” London’s mayor Sadiq Khan said.
“Thank you to all emergency services responding to the incident in Streatham, which the police have now declared as terrorism-related. My thoughts are with the injured and all those affected”, UK PM Boris Johnson tweeted.
Johnson said measures will be introduced to bring fundamental changes to the way people convicted of terror offenses are handled in prison and afterward.
London has suffered a number of similar terror attacks in the last years. In November, two people were stabbed to death by a person who was wearing a hoax bomb. Police killed the suspect on the scene. In 2017, seven people died and 48 others were injured by attackers who were also wearing fake explosive vests.
Three injured, suspect shot dead in London terror attack
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