A convicted Islamist terrorist, who spent part of his teens in Pakistan and released last year from a UK prison, is suspected to be the man who stabbed two people to death in a terror attack on London Bridge, police said on Saturday.
While the attacker went on a stabbing spree, a tour guide, in a heroic move, pinned down the knifeman who carried out the London Bridge attack. According to news.com.au, the tour guide was identified as Thomas Gray. The tour guide risked his own life and pinned down the knifeman. Gray told The Sun, that the attacker was wielding two knives, including one duct-taped to his hand.
“Me and my colleague Stevie were driving northbound over London Bridge and we sort of came up behind a double-decker bus and we noticed several people jumping over the central reservation (median strip) out to the right,” Gray told broadcaster ITV.
After which, Gray and his colleague tried to apprehend the suspect. “When we got there he was wielding two knives, one was duct-taped to his hand so all I could do after the guys had held him down and were pinning him to the ground, tried to stamp as hard as I could on his wrist to try and release the knife as it were," Gray told broadcaster ITV.
“Someone kicked the knife away, somewhere northbound up London Bridge and then after that the police armed response were really quick, got there almost instantaneously, and at that point we were told he had a bomb vest so we cleared house and got out the way," Gray told broadcaster ITV.
The knifeman, wearing a suspected hoax explosive device, was shot dead by police after the daylight assault on Friday that also saw bystanders intervene to try and disarm him. The British Police identified the London Bridge attacker as British national Usman Khan, a 28-year-old male from Staffordshire, who was convicted in 2012 of terrorism offences and released in December 2018. Khan was born in London and is of Pakistani ethnicity. Usman Khan was shot dead by officers after Friday's attack.
Images and videos on social media showed people running for their lives as the incident unfolded. London Bridge was shot dead by the police, who described the incident as a terror attack. At approximately 2 pm (local time), police were called in response to the attack at the premises near London Bridge, Assistant Commissioner for Specialist Operations at the Metropolitan Police Neil Basu said in a statement.
People from several high-rise buildings were evacuated in the affected area, which was cordoned off by the police. Basu said that a "number of people" sustained injuries during the attack and further updates on their condition will be given soon. "Our heartfelt sympathies go out to those anxiously awaiting news from loved ones," he said.
(Inputs from Agencies)
