Reading terror attack: First victim named as security sources say Khairi Saadallah may have wanted to join Islamist group abroad
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Three people have died and another three lie injured after being stabbed by a knife-wielding assailant in a park in Reading on Saturday evening, Thames Valley Police have confirmed.
The attack took place at around 7pm in Forbury Gardens in the town centre, with police subsequently arresting 25-year-old Libyan national Khairi Saadallah at the scene on suspicion of murder. They now say the are investigating the matter as terror-related, with security sources telling The Independent that he may have tried to travel abroad to join an Islamist group.
“Kind and gentle” teacher James Furlong was named by The Holt School as one of those killed. In response to the “appalling” incident, prime minister Boris Johnson has said that “if there are changes that need to be made to our legal system to stop such events happening again, we will not hesitate to take that action”.
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'We will not hesitate' to change legal system if necessary, PM says
Asked during his interview whether the UK could expect more attacks in the coming months, Boris Johnson replied: "I see no reason to draw that conclusion but I do think that clearly if there are lessons to be learned from this particular case then we will learn them.''
He clarified that he would make changes to the legal system to prevent other attacks from happening, if there are lessons to be learned.
Asked if he was doing enough to protect the public from terror, the prime minister said: "I don't want to pre-empt the police and their work in their investigation into what exactly happened in this case.
"But I just want to repeat, if there are lessons to be learned, if there are changes that need to be made to our legal system to stop such events happening again, we will not hesitate to take that action, as we have before you will recall , over the automatic early release of terrorist offenders."
In the wake of the Fishmongers' Hall and Streatham attacks in London, both of which were carried out by released terrorists, MPs are mulling plans to allow judges to increase sentences for any serious crime by finding a “terrorist connection” - rather than the small list of crimes currently subject to that measure, such as murder, hijacking and causing explosions.
Thames Valley Police Chief Constable John Campbell has told reporters the first emergency call was made to police at 6.56pm on Saturday and that a man was arrested within five minutes.
There is not believed to be a wider risk to the public and there is nothing to suggest anyone else was involved in the attack, he reaffirms.
Police officers have been standing guard outside the corridor of Khairi Saadallah's flat in Whitley.
One neighbour from the same floor of the building, who did not wish to be named, told PA: "I've only spoken to him for 30 minutes, I didn't know the guy but it makes me scared. I have a son. I had no idea he could do something like this."
Another resident, Nathalie Hickson, said: "I heard on the radio that there had been stabbings, then I could see a helicopter so I knew there was something major going on.
"There were loads of police, all sorts of cars, van. There wasn't noise at first, like waiting for something to happen, with police, counter-terrorism all here.
"Basically it was like watching a film, I was scared, petrified. You just don't know what's going to happen next. I heard explosions going off. It's just horrendous for the people who have gone through."
At a short press briefing, Thames Valley Police Chief Constable John Campbell said: "As you can imagine the scene we came across was pretty horrific. We had a number of officers that were in the community because they were patrolling around Reading and they were there very quickly.
"We also had a number of people in the park that were witnesses to this incident and they saw the terrible tragedy unfold.
"So you can imagine both for my officers but also for those that were involved it was very distressing and we are doing all that we can to make sure we are supporting them as well as progressing the criminal inquiry."
Mr Campbell did not identify the victims and said Thames Valley Police were still in the process of contacting their next of kin.
"It would be inappropriate to share any further details until we have done that," he said. "We don't foresee that there will be any further risk in respect of this matter and we are not looking for anybody else at this time."
But he said the force would continue with their "reassurance patrols" around Reading, adding: "There will be an increased police presence for some time."
Responding to the news that the attack had been declared a terrorist incident, shadow home secretary tweeted that "those who seek to divide us must never win".
Deliveroo driver Amir Hadyoon, 31, said he saw the suspect arrested outside the job centre on Friar Street in Reading, a short distance from Forbury Gardens.
He said the suspect was tackled by police, telling reporters: "When he got arrested his hand was full of blood, I could see the blood on his hand. He wasn't resisting or anything, even though there were like four or five police officers on top of him.
"He had a very trim beard, not much on his cheeks, he was a young guy. He had like a black T-shirt or something on, he was on the ground I couldn't really see.
"To me it looked very weird because he didn't say a word. He didn't care, he was just staring... he was just completely silent. He wasn't even blinking, he looked really weird."
Labour will work with government to see if there are 'lessons that can be learned', Starmer says
Sir Keir Starmer said this is "not a time for party politics" and that he is willing to work with the government to see if there are "lessons that can be learned" in the wake of the attack.
"It's horrific that it happened at all wherever it happened, and across Reading, across the country there will be communities really upset and worried about this, united in their grief," the Labour leader said. "And all of our thoughts are with those who have lost someone in this."
He added: "It's very important that the investigation runs its course but I will want to work with the government in response to this, to look at whether there's lessons that can be learned, whether there need to be changes to the law.
"But I think as a constructive opposition, I will want to speak to the prime minister to discuss how together, we can improve the response, learn from this. The investigation must be completed, but of course, this is not a time for party politics."
Mr Johnson has said "if there are changes that need to be made to our legal system to stop such events happening again, we will not hesitate to take that action, as we have before you will recall, over the automatic early release of terrorist offenders".
One person caught up in the Forbury Gardens attack was taken to the emergency department at the John Radcliffe Hospital but they were not admitted to hospital and discharged on Saturday night, a hospital spokesperson has said.
Another remains in a stable condition under observation, a spokesperson told PA earlier this afternoon.
Libyan suspect sought to travel abroad to join Islamist group, security sources say
The suspect, a 25-year-old Libyan asylum seeker called Khairi Saadallah, came to the attention of the security and intelligence agencies in 2019 when he was seeking to join an Islamist group in the Middle East, our defence editor Kim Sengupta reports.
Mr Saadallah was put under surveillance, but the investigation was scaled down when the journey did not take place. He was subsequently jailed after being convicted of a minor crime.
Mr Saadallah is believed to have arrived in the UK several years ago and had claimed that his family had suffered in the violence which began in the country after the overthrow of the regime of Muammar Gaddafi. Extremist Islamist groups have carried out attacks in Libya as well as neighbouring Tunisia, but it is not known at present whether he had any connection with any of the groups.
The security agencies are also investigating whether Mr Saadallah had been indoctrinated by Islamic extremism. The police are looking at fellow prisoners he may have met while he was said to have been in prison serving a minor, non-terror related sentence.
The security agencies are also looking at whether Saadallah was influenced by material online and whether this had taken place during the months of lockdown. One official said it was, at this stage, a possible line of inquiry.
Read the full report here:
One possible line of inquiry for security agencies is whether Saadallah was influenced by material online and whether this had taken place during the months of lockdown, one official tells The Independent.
There has been a marked increase in Islamist propaganda online in recent months, while at the same time the number of referrals to the government’s main anti-radicalisation programme, Prevent, have fallen by more than 50 per cent, the largest ever in the 10 years the initiative has been running, our defence editor Kim Sengupta reports.
Isis communication channels have been urging adherents in the West, including those in the UK, to carry out attacks, because Europe and the US have been weakened and left disorganised by the coronavirus pandemic.
Security officials point to a number of recent terror-related incidents in Europe. Spanish police arrested an alleged Moroccan Isis supporter in Barcelona on the suspicion that he was planning to carry out attacks last month. A 29-year-old man was arrested in Paris last month after attacking two motorcyclists and then declared after being arrested: “I did it for Isis.” A 33-year-old Sudanese man was charged with alleged terrorist offences and murders after the killing of two people in the town of Romans-sur-lsere in southeastern France.
In April, the national coordinator for the Prevent counter-extremism programme told The Independent that Isis supporters were “encouraging people to target the places that appear most vulnerable”.