6:11 am: The suspect was identified by police as 20-year-old Sudesh Amman. “He had recently been released from prison and was serving a sentence for crimes of an Islamist nature”said Lucy D’Orsi, a police official, during a press conference. According to several media, he had already been convicted in 2018 for 13 terrorist crimes after having in particular shared in a family group on Whatsapp messaging a magazine linked to Al-Qaeda.
Sky News reported that he was released in January after serving half his three-year sentence.
Immediately after the fact, the police’s unusual eagerness to call the facts “terrorist” surprised. She had previously said that officers from her counterterrorism unit were there “as part of a preventive operation”, suggesting that the assailant was being watched.
Videos circulating on social networks show armed men in plain clothes seeming to hold someone’s cheek, sheltered behind an unmarked car. They are quickly reached by police vehicles. An employee of a street hair salon said he saw plainclothes police chasing someone. “They fired three times (…). He stayed alive for several minutes,” said Karker Tahir, saying he saw a “vest”. A witness told the PA news agency that he saw a man carrying a machete and metal cans chased by a man in civilian clothes.
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Sunday February 2
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8:33 pm: The terrorist attack was “of an Islamist nature”, announces the London police.
7:39 p.m .: London police now report three injured after the Streatham terrorist attack, including one hospital patient with a life-threatening diagnosis.
The Metropolitan Police said that the two more slightly injured injured were hospitalized. Their situation is not a source of concern.
6:21 p.m .: Update on the London investigation
A knife attack considered “terrorist” in a shopping street in south London left two people injured on Sunday, police said who killed the attacker. The attack comes just over two months after a knife attack that killed two people at London Bridge, right in the center of the British capital, and which led the Conservative government of Boris Johnson to announce tougher anti-terrorist legislation. Sunday, the facts took place around 2:00 p.m. local time and GMT in the residential area of Streatham.
After declaring that armed officers had shot a man who “stabbed several people”, police said that two people had been injured. “We are awaiting news of their condition,” Metropolitan police said on Twitter, assuring that the attack had been “contained”. “We can confirm that the man who was shot by the police has been declared dead,” she said. “The circumstances are being investigated, the incident has been qualified as a terrorist,” added the police. Prime Minister Boris Johnson thanked the emergency services on Twitter, adding that his thoughts were with the “injured and all those affected.” London Mayor Sadiq Khan reacted by saying, “The terrorists are trying to divide us and destroy our way of life. In London, we will never let them do it.”
The man shot dead by the police was wearing a “fake explosive jacket,” the Guardian said. The same type of jacket was worn by the assailant of the last attack on the London Bridge, in November 2019.
A witness to the attack, quoted by the British newspaper, claims to have seen “a man with a machete and silver cans on his chest, chased by what I imagine to be a plainclothes policeman”.
6:08 p.m.: After the attack in London the Belgian press announces a knife attack in Ghent in Belgium. According to passers-by interviewed by the Belgian HLN site, police shot a man who had previously attacked two other people with a knife. The man who was shot was injured in the hand. For the moment, the prosecution refrains from any comments and is conducting the investigation.
#Belgium : police shoot man who attacked two people with a knife on a busy street in #Gand (Flanders) .. Shortly after the attack #terrorist with a knife #London @franceinfo @franceinfoplus @ infofrance2 https://t.co/z916HIHw5R
– François Beaudonnet (@beaudonnet) February 2, 2020
NIEUWSFLITS: “Gentse politie schiet man neer, die 2 anderen had aangevallen met een mes” #gent #steekpartij #hln Lees meer via https://t.co/ZaA9aOCHhD pic.twitter.com/3Mxezg7lYI
– HLN.BE (@HLN_BE) February 2, 2020
5:37 p.m.: Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Twitter praised “the work of the emergency services” and “addressed his thoughts to the victims and all those affected” by this tragedy.
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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.
– Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) February 2, 2020
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5:35 p.m.: After the terrorist attack which left two wounded in Streatham, the mayor of London hails the quick and courageous action of the police and the emergency services, “the best among us”: “The terrorists seek to divide us and to destroy our way of life – here in London, we will never let them achieve it. “
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My statement on today’s incident in #Streatham: pic.twitter.com/sDsJlVcyNq
– Sadiq Khan (@SadiqKhan) February 2, 2020
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5:24 p.m.: The French Consulate in London calls to avoid the Streatham area. The attack took place on the main artery of this district.
4:59 pm: The police confirm the death of the assailant who was shot by the police. At least 2 people were injured by the man who was killed.
Large police presence in #Streatham – air ambulance, heli police. Unconfirmed reports of shooting on High Road. pic.twitter.com/USWfauyM3o
– Dan Smith (@DanSmithNews) February 2, 2020
4:43 p.m.: British police say they shot a man who had stabbed several people in London. An “incident” described as “terrorist.” “A man was shot dead by armed officers in Streatham. At this point, a number of people were reportedly stabbed. The circumstances are being assessed; the incident has been reported as linked to terrorism, “police said on Twitter.
While images published on social networks show numerous police and rescue vehicles, the police have cordoned off the area and urged people not to leave. Images circulating show armed police officers approaching a figure lying on the sidewalk.
This event echoes the attack that took place on November 29 in the British capital. A man, carrying a dummy explosive device, was shot dead by police near the London Bridge. In this stabbing attack, two people died and three others were injured. The act was claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group on November 30.
#BREAKING: London’s Metropolitan Police say they are currently dealing with a stabbing incident in #Streatham; At least 3 injured pic.twitter.com/TKNN36tvuQ
– Amichai Stein (@ AmichaiStein1) February 2, 2020
Terrorist ist erschossen worden!
Sieht wie ein Sprengstoffgürtel aus! #Streatham #London pic.twitter.com/1vGX1thgw7– (@LisaKlarname) February 2, 2020
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16:37: According to the first information from the English media, at least 3 people were injured
4:32 p.m.: First images of London after the knife attack:
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Update: Video of the scene in London where police have shot and killed a man following a stabbing. #Streatham #London #Shooting pic.twitter.com/ErAwx5V2v0
– Breaking News (@NewsAlertUK_) February 2, 2020
#update: Just in – At least 3 people stabbed in #Streatham in the #UK said to be laying lifeless on the ground after a stabbing attack. pic.twitter.com/OiFE4Lb853
– Sotiri Dimpinoudis (@sotiridi) February 2, 2020
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4:26 pm: Several people were stabbed in the Streatham district of London (United Kingdom), Sunday, February 2, announced the police on Twitter. The authorities have referred to an act “linked to terrorism”. The suspect, who was armed with a knife, was killed.
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#INCIDENT A man has been shot by armed officers in #Streatham. At this stage it is believed a number of people have been stabbed. The circumstances are being assessed; the incident has been declared as terrorist-related. Please follow @metpoliceuk for updates
– Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) February 2, 2020
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– Shootout and knife attack #London : according to several witnesses, the suspect shot dead by the #police is dead. Several people were injured in #knife at #streatham. Video of the police intervention. more info to come. #London pic.twitter.com/zNxtJ2GO9E
– La Plume Libre (@LPLdirect) February 2, 2020
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