Libyan Knife Attack Suspect Known to MI5

World

June 22nd, 10:34am

Asharq Al-Awsat

The Libyan man held on suspicion of killing three people at a park in Reading. BBC

The English town of Reading held a minute's silence on Monday for the victims of a deadly stabbing attack carried out by a Libyan man who had come across the radar of Britain's domestic security agency MI5 in 2019. Three people were killed and three others were hospitalized after the man wielding a five-inch knife went on the rampage in Forbury Gardens park on Saturday, randomly stabbing people enjoying a sunny, summer evening. A Western security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that the suspect was a 25-year-old Libyan called Khairi Saadallah. Calling the incident terrorism, police said a 25-year-old had been arrested but they were not hunting others. "What we saw here on Saturday evening in Reading was the actions of one lone individual," Home Secretary (interior minister) Priti Patel said. The security source told Reuters that Saadallah had come to the attention of the MI5 last year over intelligence he had aspirations to travel for extremist purposes, although his plans then came to nothing. "The security services have records on thousands of people and rightly so," said Patel, adding she was limited in what she could say because the investigation was live. Shocked residents of Reading, about 65 km west of London, held a minute's silence at 0900 GMT. The attack was reminiscent of some recent incidents in Britain that authorities also called terrorism.

from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2347926/libyan-knife-attack-suspect-known-mi5